IRS has aging workforce, service at risk: report

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http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE5873ZR20090908?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews


The U.S. Internal Revenue Service is struggling with an aging workforce where more than a third of its executives are eligible for retirement, a scenario putting its mission at risk, a government report said on Monday.

The U.S. tax collection agency "faces a loss of leadership and technical employees that could threaten its ability to provide American taxpayers the service they have come to expect," the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said in its report.

The IRS employs about 106,000 workers, including 9,100 managers. Half of all employees are over age 50, and 39 percent of IRS executives are already eligible for retirement. The agency has said it would have to hire a manager a day for the next decade to keep up with attrition.

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IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman has said tax avoidance and evasion by corporations and high-income taxpayers will be a major focus.

"The pending loss of institutional knowledge and expertise at all levels and the challenge of retaining a highly skilled workforce increase the risk that the IRS may not be able to achieve its mission," the report said.
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if money can be found to fight wars, then money can be found to hire IRS staff.

get on with the hiring and investigating corporations, for pete's sake.