I just saw a bill that would increase funding to Israel by taking funding away from the IRS. As a tax professional I want to say, NO. Please, please don't do that. The chatter supports cutting IRS funding to the bone, but dear God, we've barely got a functioning IRS as it is. We need more administrative people there. Any time I handle a tax matter for a client I cringe, because I know getting it resolved is more likely than not going to be a massive headache. Not too long ago I had a client who was sent a fraudulent 1099. It should have been handled at a relatively low administrative level, but we couldn't get any response because the IRS is so broken. So we had to file a damn Tax Court petiton to get it resolved, which was a massive waste of everyone's time and money. The minute the IRS lawyer saw my petition, she immediately said they'd correct it. That was the right answer but it never should have gotten to that point. It did get to that point because the IRS doesn't have the resources to operate correctly.

I get frustrated when see reports about IRS agents getting guns and likening them to the Gestapo. It's not like that at all. Correct me if I'm wrong, but only CID (criminal) agents carry guns-and they should. Nobody from the IRS is going to come bust down your door-unless you're committing criminal tax fraud and illegal activity.

OK-rant over.