Janet Holtzblatt, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, testified before the House Subcommittee on Delivering Government Efficiency roundtable on “The IRS Under Audit: A Review of Operations at the Nation’s Tax Collector” on April 15, 2026. In her testimony, entitled “The State of Federal Tax Administration In 2026,” Holtzblatt discussed how ensuring high standards for customer service and enforcement can enable the IRS to administer a complicated tax system effectively and meet the intent of lawmakers. Her testimony focused on five key points: 

1. For the past 15 years, IRS funding and staffing have fluctuated widely. Persistent funding cuts and uncertainty about the stability of funding increases undermine the provision of taxpayer services and enforcement. As a result, efforts to transform the IRS into a twenty-first century tax administration agency have faltered.
2. Due to net reductions of about 20 percent of the IRS staff in 2025, taxpayers likely received less help in preparing their returns this year and experienced delays in refunds, particularly among those filing paper returns, those flagged during processing, and those without bank accounts for direct deposit of payments from the IRS.
3. The rollback of the Inflation Reduction Act’s substantial funding for enforcement activities may reduce audits and also weaken the agency’s ability to provide guidance on a complex tax code before returns are filed.
4. Advancements in technology are necessary to modernize the IRS, but experienced staff will still be needed to provide developers with insights into the complex tax code.
5. Effective oversight of the IRS’s performance is imperative, and it requires comprehensive and reliable evidence.