Strong and credible IRS is key to democracy. The internal link alone turns solvency.
Anson and Kane 22, *associate professor in the department of political science at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, **assistant professor at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University (“Everyone loves to hate the IRS. That’s a problem. Our research found ways to increase public support for funding the agency,” Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/04/22/irs-underfunded-messaging-republicans-democrats/)//BB
With the 2022 tax season now officially over, many taxpayers are facing an unusual problem. The Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. federal tax collection agency, has warned filers of significant delays in processing federal tax refunds because of ongoing funding and personnel cutbacks at the agency. While most Americans rarely give much thought to the IRS, this year’s even slower customer service is likely to cause widespread dissatisfaction. Lukewarm public support for the IRS is nothing new. But research finds that continuing negative attitudes toward the agency could exacerbate a second ongoing problem: a steep decline in the IRS’s ability to enforce the tax code and collect revenue from tax cheats. Two things might boost public support for the IRS: information about its underfunding and appeals to Republicans’ and Democrats’ core values. That increased support might push Congress to invest in the U.S. central tax authority. Here’s what our research says. Why support for the IRS matters Political scientists find that a lack of support for central tax agencies is remarkably bad for democracy. The IRS plays a key role in supporting what social scientists call “state capacity,” or the U.S. ability to run a functioning government. Without the IRS collecting taxes and enforcing the tax code, the U.S. federal government would very quickly collapse into total dysfunction.