I posted an article earlier today about the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) monitoring what is said in churches, but another story illustrating the problems with that organization has surfaced in the Washington Examiner today. It seems that money given to the IRS for the purpose of helping taxpayers with income tax questions was diverted to other things.

The article reports:

“Spending decisions entirely under the IRS’s control led to 16 million fewer taxpayers receiving IRS assistance this filing season,” said the report (House Ways and Means Committee report), which was prepared by majority staff of the tax-writing House panel chaired by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc.

“Other spending choices, including prioritizing employee bonuses and union activity on the taxpayer’s dime, used up resources that otherwise could have been used to assist another 10 million taxpayers,” the report said.

Budget cuts that Congress has imposed on the IRS in recent years resulted in part from “waste and misconduct” at the tax agency, including nearly $50 million spent on employee conferences that critics say were extravagant and unnecessary. Congress has reduced IRS funding by $1.2 billion since 2010.

The article goes on to explain many of the mixed-up priorities of the IRS. It seems to me that if the IRS cannot properly allocate the funding it is given, we should not give it any more money. There are a number of tax proposals out there that would abolish the IRS. I think it is time we looked at them more closely.