The tax gap – the difference between what Americans owe in taxes and what they voluntarily pay – is growing. In response, Bruce Bartlett berates Republicans for neutering the IRS:
Someone who thinks the odds of being caught are close to zero is going to be strongly tempted to cheat no matter how low tax rates are. Republicans have been treating the I.R.S. like a political punching bag for years, cutting its personnel and restricting its ability to do its job. The number of I.R.S. employees fell to 84,711 in 2010 from 116,673 in 1992 despite an increase in the population of the United States of 53 million over that period.
The Economist graphs the gap.
The Dish 