IRS leadership ready for more funding
IRS commissioner says agency has the management structure to handle additional funds for modernization
The Internal Revenue Service has the management structure in place to handle additional funds on its modernization plans, IRS Commissioner Charles Rossotti told House appropriators.
Under persistent questioning from Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Rossotti said the IRS could use "modestly a greater amount" for modernization. However, he said, "we plan for the funds available."
The Bush administration's fiscal 2002 budget proposal requests $398 million for IRS information technology modernization. But the IRS Oversight Board, which was created by the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act, has said the IRS needs $1 billion over two years if it is going to implement its modernization plan effectively.
Even if the IRS does not get additional funding, the hearing before the House Appropriations Committee's Treasury, Postal Service and General Government Subcommittee made it clear that lawmakers have more faith in the IRS' current leadership team than they have had in past management teams.
Senior IRS officials acknowledged following the hearing that it is unlikely Congress will propose additional funds for modernization.
Rep. Ernest Istook Jr. (R-Okla.), chairman of the subcommittee, said the IRS' overall fiscal 2002 budget proposal seeks an increase of $582 million more than was approved for fiscal 2001, noting that the request is more than 80 percent of the proposed increase for the entire Treasury Department.
To tap a source of existing money, the IRS has submitted a request for $128 million — the balance of the funds in the IRS Information Technology Investment Account, which funds the IRS modernization effort. Under the IRS reform law, the agency must get approval from Treasury officials, the General Accounting Office, and House and Senate appropriators before the funds are released.
Istook said he is reviewing the IRS request "in light of the continuing and serious management weaknesses" reported by the General Accounting Office about the tax service's problems balancing its books.
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