The Internal Revenue Service is warning that cuts Congress has proposed in the agency's budget would mean worse service to taxpayers and would cost the government $4 billion a year in lost revenue.
IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman has written a letter to lawmakers saying the cuts would mean a noticeable degradation of service and enforcement by the agency, and would cost the government far more than it would save in spending cuts.
The House Appropriations Committee has approved a bill that would provide $11.5 billion for the IRS in fiscal 2012, which began Oct. 1. The Senate Appropriations Committee version would provide $11.7 billion. Both are hundreds of millions less than the agency received last year.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.