Cal Thomas’ column attacking the IRS (“The Infernal Revenue Service,” May 12) reminded me of an excellent May 4 Washington Post editorial by former IRS commissioners who represented both parties and all administrations from Reagan to Obama.

There is a real opportunity right now for bi-partisan actions to improve the IRS. Legislation proposed by President Biden would address this need.

In real terms, the IRS budget today is smaller than it was in 2010, and has 21,000 fewer employees. The number of audits have been substantially reduced, and only 24% of calls are returned. The Biden proposal would reduce the “enormous gap between taxes legally owed and taxes actually paid,” by 1) enhancing third-party reporting, which would greatly increase tax compliance; 2) making investments in technology over several years, which would increase efficiency; and 3) rebuilding the workforce, which would improve customer service and increase tax compliance.

According to these Republican and Democratic tax experts, if Congress and the president agree to modernize the IRS and properly fund its operations, an additional $700 billion to $1.4 trillion in revenues should be raised in the next 10 years.

I urge Sens. King and Collins to take the lead in supporting President Biden’s proposal to improve and modernize the IRS, so we can start on the long path toward bringing our massive deficits under control, and to drastically improve IRS customer service to taxpayers.

Richard Whiting, Auburn

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