IRS struggles with budget and staffing issues in face of pandemic

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Doreen Greenwald

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National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) National Executive Vice President Doreen Greenwald joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss how budget cuts and staffing issues have affected Internal Revenue Service employees in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The NTEU represents about 62,000 IRS employees.

Greenwald explained that the IRS has been underfunded and understaffed for decades. The COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbated the problem, as the responsibilities of the IRS grew to include the processing of pandemic relief payments and the expanded Child Tax Credit, she said. Nevertheless, the employees of the IRS have done a phenomenal job rising to the challenge, she added.

Greenwald discussed Republican proposals to cut IRS staffing, an approach she said did not make sense, as the agency is already struggling. When the IRS is properly funded and well staffed, it is able to respond to the American public and enforce tax laws appropriately to prevent tax scams.

She explained the IRS staffing issues cannot be addressed until Congress provides adequate funding to the agency. Provisions in the Build Back Better budget reconciliation bill would increase the funding, if passed, she added.

Listen to the entire episode to learn more about these topics.

America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.

America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes-IBT, Boyd Watterson, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, Mechanical Insulators Labor Management Cooperative Trust, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, Melwood, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of North America, The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

IRS struggles with budget and staffing issues in face of pandemic

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