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End The IRS

Before you read this, you need to download the accounting spreadsheet from IRS:

IRS Accounting Spreadsheet

You want to click on the "2010" link as that is the most current data. After you download the XLS file, open it and see the Table 29 "Collections, Costs, Personnel, and U.S. Population, Fiscal Years 1980 - 2010".

For each 5 year span marked in the table:

1980 - 1984:
24% increase in tax
30% increase in IRS cost ($998M)
4% increase in population

1985 - 1989:
27% increase in tax
31% increase in IRS cost ($1.597B)
4% increase in population

1990 - 1994:
17% increase in tax
25% increase in IRS cost ($1.804B)
5% increase in population

1995 - 1999:
28% increase in tax
11% increase in IRS cost ($879M)
5% increase in population

2000 - 2004:
4% decrease in tax
15% increase in IRS cost ($1.497B)
4% increase in population

2005 - 2010:
3% increase in tax
16% increase in IRS cost ($1.955B)
4% increase in population

This information tells us that:

1. We are taxed more and more each year.
2. Our population growth does not match the tax revenue growth.
3. The IRS has continued to be MORE INEFFICIENT in 30 years.
4. The IRS has cost about $400M more each consecutive year since 1985.

IRS 2010 Data Book (big)

The IRS Data Book, link above, shows that in 1997 we have the single largest leap in the number of electronic filings (27% increase). In Table 29, we see a happy time in 1995 to 1996 and 1997 where the cost of the IRS was actually going DOWN, as you would expect in the case of electronic filing.

Then, after 1997, the $400M per year trend returns and continues to spiral out of control to a whopping $12.35B to collect $2.345T in revenue.

Each year, according to the IRS Data Book, the number of electronically filing tax payers is growing, from 11.8 million electronic returns in 1995 to 87.3 million returns in 2007.

From the IRS Data Book, 2010, page 10, Table 4, the total number of electronic filings for individuals was about 67 million out of a total 116 million. Table 3, page 6, gives us the total number of returns, both electronic and paper, filed in the USA in 2010 as 230,408,678. That means about 50% of ALL RETURNS were filed electronically, by a machine, processed by a computer, and assessed electronically.

Why is it that we need 82% MORE MONEY to operate an agency to collect money when nearly half of the job is being done by a computer.

Write to your Congressional Representative and Senator, then send email to the President (president@whitehouse.gov). Demand to reduce the IRS to an operating level that is en par with its real cost of doing business.

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