Some politicians want to put the IRS in charge of filing our taxes. Should they really have that much authority?

From The Hill. While the federal government keeps overspending taxpayers’ money and driving all of us further into debt, politicians keep coming up with ways to demand that working families send more of their hard-earned money to Washington. A recent example is a plan to force taxpayers to have the Internal Revenue Service do your taxes for you.

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Yes, politicians such as Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) are pushing to put the same federal government in charge of filing the tax forms for all taxpayers in the country. …

Everyday Americans’ distrust of the IRS is a longstanding constant. Recent data from Pew Research show that the IRS continues to be the least-liked federal agency among Americans, even among Democrats. A mere cursory review of IRS failures demonstrates why animosity toward the IRS is justified and goes beyond common tax-filing pitfalls and unpleasant interactions with the agency. …

Last year Congress added $80 billion in new funding for the IRS — which is in addition to its $13.6 billion budget. Included in that amount is $15 million to “study” Sens. Sanders’ and Warren’s preferred government takeover of your tax preparation.

The tax filing experience would likely be much more painful under a system in which the IRS imposes more control. Everyday taxpayers no longer would have a voice on crucial details that affect the amount of tax they owe to the federal government. For American workers, especially those in certain industries who don’t file a simple W-2 form … the amount of intrusion into information required would be a serious privacy threat and only increase government harassment. …

It would be much more productive for the IRS to focus on improving taxpayer services and badly needed technological upgrades.

The IRS’s own internal watchdog office, known as the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS), stressed as much in a recent report from the head of TAS, the National Taxpayer Advocate (NTA): “The additional funding provided by the IRA is disproportionately allocated for enforcement activities and should be reallocated to achieve a better balance with taxpayer service needs and IT modernization.”

Of that $80 billion in new IRS funding, over half of it is set to go toward tax enforcement and audits, while a mere $3.2 billion was allocated for Taxpayer Services and $4.8 billion for modernizing IRS technology.  …

What do you think of Sen. Sander and Sen. Warren’s idea? Share this article to keep people informed.

(Excerpt from The Hill. Photo Credit: Getty Images)