I had to take a day off to deal with the IRS. We can’t afford to give them even more power.
I don’t get many days—or nights—off from being a delivery driver. Unlike a lot of people these days, I am working long and odd hours to make sure our country and supply chain remain functional. So you can imagine my frustration when I had to take a day off from work—without pay—just to sort out a tax issue with the IRS that was not even my fault.
After filing a straightforward return, I got a letter telling me it contained some irregularities with my dependents – and I have none. I spent several hours on the phone, first just trying to get ahold of an actual person and then trying to resolve this supposed issue with my taxes that I had filed months ago. At long last, someone on the other end of the phone acknowledged that the issue was the IRS’ mistake and advised me to ignore the letter that had been sent to me.
The IRS already gets enough of my hard-earned money in taxes. Now, their dysfunction cost me a vacation day and payday all because of something that was their fault. And mine is just one example among millions of taxpayers.
Yet there are some members of Congress who think we should give the IRS even more power and greatly expand its responsibilities. New proposals from some lawmakers would give the IRS expanded authority to not only collect our taxes but also to populate and file citizens’ tax returns – setting them up as both the tax preparer and receiver. This would not only give them more power – it would create a huge conflict of interest.
It’s clear the agency already struggles to do its primary job and serve its customers. This year alone, the agency has been delayed in processing nearly 35 million tax returns. For many of those taxpayers, that is hard-earned money that workers and families are waiting to get back into their pockets. And that’s the core job that the IRS should be focusing on getting done – not taking on vast new roles.
And I can say from first-hand experience that the current customer service at the IRS is dismal. It’s been reported that you only have a 1-in-50 chance of reaching an actual person when you call. Giving the agency even more responsibilities would spell disaster for anyone, like me, who has to call the agency for help and has no recourse to correct their mistakes.
What’s more, this expanded role would mean turning over even more of my personal information to the IRS and then simply trusting them to look out for my best interests, rather than maximizing government revenue. Give me a break. As someone who just had to take a day off from work to deal with the IRS’ own mistake on my taxes, I certainly don’t feel confident that they would be doing everything necessary to make sure I got every dollar back that I’m owed during tax season.
Working a full-time job to pay your bills, feed your family, and then pay the tax man is tough enough. We shouldn’t have to take unpaid days off just to try to fix a bureaucrat’s mistake.
No Granite Stater thinks the IRS needs more power, information, or broader authority. Our federal representatives – and especially Senators Hassan and Shaheen – should make sure these insane D.C. proposals do not become a nightmare reality for us.
Don Krimpler grew up in Nashua and currently lives in Hudson.
