But what's aggravating this year to the people who pay their taxes is that that IRS just confirmed that it stopped going after more than a million taxpayers who just refuse to pay. The IRS said staff cuts and a shift in philosophy, demanded by congress from enforcement to customer service, means deliquencies go untouched. In north texas, the IRS does fewer personal audits now. They've dropped from nearly 32,000 in 1997 to about 8,000 last year. The IRS claims cheaters are liable to get caught at some point, just probably later than sooner.
Enforcement is slower than it used to be.
Well, that's a question that congress will have to deal with. The people who do pay are angry. But I think they should come down on them a little bit more, and get the real people out there who need to be paying and should be paying. President Bush wants to increase the IRS budget seven percent next year. But critics say that's not enough effect enforcement.