The former IRS commissioners emphasized that "aggressive reductions in the IRS' collection capacity will only render our government less effective and less efficient in collecting the taxes Congress has imposed. It will shift the burden of funding the government from people who shirk their taxes to the honest people who pay them, and it will impede efforts by the IRS to modernize customer service and simplify the tax filing process for everyone."
The authors conceded that "like any bureaucratic institution, the IRS could certainly improve its efficiency and effectiveness ... . None of us claimed to have had all the right answers, so a fresh perspective should always be welcome. And having served under both Republican and Democratic administrations and Congresses, we recognize and respect that elections have consequences."
But they insisted that "whatever the future size and priorities of the IRS, our country needs a fully functioning tax system" and that with almost 200 million Americans in the process of completing their tax returns, "we urge caution in initiating major changes to IRS operations during the filing season."
The former IRS commissioners stressed, however, that "even after filing season ends, we believe — and we believe that successful chief executives across the country would concur — that making drastic cuts to accounts receivable as a way to improve cost efficiency just doesn't add up."