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Millions of Taxpayers Call the IRS for Help. Two-Thirds Don't Reach Anyone

wsj.com

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Re: Millions of Taxpayers Call the IRS for Help. Two-Thirds Don't Reach Anyone

#41

Post by alwa »

giantg2 wrote: post #35
devoutsalsa wrote: post #7

I contact my congressional representative when I need help with the IRS. Have done it twice now. Works great.

Hard to believe they actually get back to you and help. Any correspondence I've had with representatives is basically met with a form letter that doesn't even address the actual content of my concern.

Out of curiosity, was your correspondence in reference to navigating the federal government’s services, or were you corresponding to share your concerns about political matters?

It seems like the congressional offices can be useful for bringing exceptional cases to the attention of the various federal bureaucracies, from taxes to passports to capital tours.

Re: Millions of Taxpayers Call the IRS for Help. Two-Thirds Don't Reach Anyone

#42

Post by alwa »

more_corn wrote: post #28

In a quintessential example of late stage capitalism you can pay a service to get you to the front of the line. They DDOS the irs phone lines and give every available slot to a paying customer. At the expense of making it impossible for normal people to get through. This behavior is not treated as illegal or abusive by the powers that be.

The last I heard, ”expediter” services game the passport offices the same way.

Re: Millions of Taxpayers Call the IRS for Help. Two-Thirds Don't Reach Anyone

#43

Post by lostdog »

cchance wrote: post #36
giantg2 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is increasing the enforcement arm going to help with these questions? Also, they are increasing the inforcement arm substantially, to the point it should be above the 2010 levels.

I'm sure cutting 20 BILLION in funding from them in the IRA isn't going to fuck over any of their internal processes or hiring

The IRA started out adding $80b to IRS funding, and Republicans negotiated it down to $60b.

Re: Millions of Taxpayers Call the IRS for Help. Two-Thirds Don't Reach Anyone

#44

Post by kachapopopow »

Why does no one ever consider removing tax that doesn't make that much revenue? When I look at the tax code in the US half of it only applies to 0.0001% of people and the ones that affect the uber-rich have loopholes to avoid it. Why not just look at which tax is the most 'profitable' and remove the rest?

Re: Millions of Taxpayers Call the IRS for Help. Two-Thirds Don't Reach Anyone

#45

Post by Zelphyr »

jmclnx wrote: post #37
HillRat wrote: post #5

The IRS is a perennial budgeting football for Congress, even though it's one of the few agencies for whom increasing their budget creates positive net revenue for the federal government; its enforcement arm is down 30% in staffing since 2010, with predictably dismal results. As an anecdotal comparison, I had a fairly long-running issue years ago with the IRS over a minor problem (some expenditures got posted to one f…

I had friends and relatives who worked for the US IRS in the 80s, they all would say the IRS was the one place that budgets will never be cut, so the felt far more secure than I did in Tech. Little did they know the top 1% would get with one specific US Political Party to cut the IRS budget so thy can all cheat on their taxes. It is cheaper for them to hire lawyers than to pay their "fair share".

[flagged]

Re: Millions of Taxpayers Call the IRS for Help. Two-Thirds Don't Reach Anyone

#47

Post by mdorazio »

I’ll share my story. The IRS incorrectly sent me a fine for over a thousand dollars claiming I had filed late. I tried calling them 9 times on different days to dispute it. Within a minute of opening, end of day, middle of the day, didn’t matter. Not even a wait line, just “sorry try later.” I finally gave up and paid the damn thing then got a refund for the fine over a year later when I guess they figured out it was invalid.

The IRS is one place I absolutely want my tax dollars to fund and it’s sad to see it get cut to the bone.

Re: Millions of Taxpayers Call the IRS for Help. Two-Thirds Don't Reach Anyone

#48

Post by noodlesUK »

This isn't even just a US/IRS problem. It's here in the UK too [1]. Governments have been axing customer service budgets for years now, but IMO it's a foolish choice.

Bad customer service from the government leads to more errors impacting citizens' lives, which results in more lawsuits and other issues. You ultimately need the ability to sort out problems, and it's better and cheaper for that to happen earlier.

[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68413088

Re: Millions of Taxpayers Call the IRS for Help. Two-Thirds Don't Reach Anyone

#49

Post by benatkin »

adolph wrote: post #21
adamdecaf wrote: post #12

I called a half dozen times on the English line and got no where. I called once on the Spanish line and just spoke English, got my problem solved in under 5mins.

es bueno saber! Y sabiendo es la media guerra . . .

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AndKnowingIsHalf...

Re: Millions of Taxpayers Call the IRS for Help. Two-Thirds Don't Reach Anyone

#50

Post by the_gastropod »

baseballdork wrote: post #26
LorenPechtel wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Honestly can't keep up with the conspiracies and euphemisms. Which party is deliberately sabotaging it and how are they cheating?

[flagged]
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