Home
Media Center
News Releases
WASHINGTON – One year after the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law, frontline employees at the IRS are seeing first-hand how the additional investments in personnel and equipment are improving agency operations in a way that benefits American taxpayers.
“It has been a productive year at the IRS as a result of the investments from the Inflation Reduction Act. Increased hiring provides for more responsive customer service, faster refund processing, improved communication with taxpayers and more audits of complex tax returns filed by large corporations and the wealthy,” said NTEU National President Doreen Greenwald.
The law, signed one year ago by President Biden, invests $80 billion over 10 years to rebuild the IRS after a decade of cuts to funding and staffing, although the amount will be reduced to $60 billion because of the debt limit agreement earlier this year.
“NTEU cautions that it will take years to reverse the damage, but it is clear that progress has already begun,” Greenwald said. “There is a long way to go, but IRS employees – who endured understaffing and outdated technology for too long – say the investments so far are making a positive difference.”
The Treasury Department reports a five-fold increase in levels of service provided by IRS employees over last year’s filing season; answering 3 million more phone calls; a reduction in telephone wait times from 28 minutes to 3 minutes; and 140,000 more in-person appointments. In the first quarter of 2023, the IRS digitized 80 times more paper returns than in all of 2022, and there are now 35 additional Taxpayer Assistance Centers opened for appointments.
“NTEU urges Congress not to lose this momentum by maintaining the annual appropriations the agency needs for regular operations, in addition to the IRA investments that target customer service, modernized technology and improved enforcement,” Greenwald said. “We should not lose sight of another important benefit to properly funding the IRS: the Inflation Reduction Act’s investment in the IRS will help reduce the federal deficit by collecting more of the revenue that is rightfully owed under the law.”
NTEU represents employees in 35 federal agencies and offices.