Item on efficiency of IRS right on mark

By Richard Rychtarik, Las Vegas

Saturday, May 16, 2015 | 5:52 p.m.

The article “Republicans love to hate the IRS, but it’s a model of efficiency” (Las Vegas Sun, April 4) was right on target. You would have to be an utterly stupid businessman or a deranged politician to rave about how effectively you were able to shut off the revenue stream that keeps you funded. The IRS is only efficient in light of all of the thousands of restrictions placed upon its ability to investigate and collect. Federal tax loopholes abound, and a great many of these support the wealthiest of Americans and large corporations. But there’s also something in it for the little people too: “Please sir, may I have some more?” tax benefits. This “twist” is why the statutes are now so complex and the main reason it is so difficult to make major changes to the tax code.

Warren Buffet, the Oracle of Omaha, recently indicated that some form of a value-added tax (a type of pay-as-you-go tax) would be a better method of tax collection. While he is likely right, he also admits that this is not going to happen.

There isn’t a year that goes by that the IRS doesn’t flag the amount they feel goes uncollected. This time it’s at least $480 billion. Where is that money, who has it, and what happens if we collect it? Will it pay down our debt or will politicians find ways to spend it too? Who knows? What I do know is given these huge revenue losses every year, prudent businessmen would allocate at least 10 percent of projected losses to recovery. It is highly probable that an annual allocation of an additional $48 billion would recover far more than this expenditure. I’m sure Congress will step up to the plate and earmark this funding just as soon as they discover how much isn’t being collected. Right?