The House Appropriations Committee today released the FY2019 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill, which provides annual funding for the Treasury Department, the Judiciary, the Small Business Administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and related agencies.
The bill provides $11.6 billion for the Internal Revenue Service, an increase of $186 million above the FY2018 enacted level. Of the funds, $77 million are earmarked to help the IRS with implementing the new tax code adopted in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. The bill provides IRS Taxpayer Services an additional $31 million above the FY2018 enacted level to support the agency’s customer service function (such as phone calls and correspondence) as well as funding for fraud prevention and cybersecurity.
The IRS has faced nearly a decade of declining appropriations, causing the agency to enact deep cuts in enforcement personnel and customer service activities, among other reductions. The FY2019 proposed appropriation of $11.6 billion is more than $2 billion less than the appropriated amount nine years ago, in FY2010. Further complicating matters, in FY2019 the IRS will be faced with continuing implementation of the most significant reform of the Internal Revenue Code in decades.
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