No More Mister Nice-Guy

Remember the “Kinder, Gentler IRS” of the 90s? Well, you can forget about that! The complaints about IRS agents with the humanity of an enraged mountain gorilla may still be coming in but these days they fall on deaf ears.

With a $345 billion gap between taxes owed and taxes paid in 2001, the IRS has been beefing up their collection department. They increased spending for it by 13% in 2006 when compared to 2004. Another way to look at this is that of the IRS’s $11.6 billion dollar operating budget, 63% goes to collection and enforcement efforts.

And taxpayers are starting to notice. Accounting firms are reporting that word of mouth is driving delinquent payers to their offices for help because they heard from friends and colleagues about the IRS’s increasingly aggressive tactics.