55 NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS URGE CONFIRMATION OF DANNY WERFEL FOR IRS COMMISSIONER

The IRA will invest nearly $80 billion to improve tax enforcement and customer service, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates will increase federal revenues by $180 billion over the next decade by catching and deterring tax evasion, reducing the deficit by about $100 billion. [...] This restored enforcement funding is critical to close the “tax gap”—the difference between what’s owed and what’s paid—the Treasury Department estimates the “gross tax gap” at $540 billion per year, a good portion of it made up of unpaid taxes of the rich and large corporations. [...] Other parts of the funding package are imperative for improving customer service for honest taxpayers: as of this past December, around 10 million returns sat unprocessed (an improvement over 2021, but still a big number) and in 2021 nine out of ten phone calls to the IRS went unanswered. [...] Only a Senate-confirmed commissioner has the clout to move the IRS forward on its two urgent goals of improving customer service for honest taxpayers—answering phones, processing returns, issuing refunds—and cracking down on tax avoidance by the wealthy and large profitable corporations, who deprive Americans of hundreds of billions of dollars in unpaid tax revenue each year. [...] Sincerely, AFL-CIO Alliance for Retired Americans American Family Voices American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Americans for Democratic Action Americans for Tax Fairness Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO Campaign for America’s Future Center for American Progress Center for Common Ground Center for Law and Social Pol.