Average wait time to talk with IRS via its 800 number: 12 minutes. Percentage of callers the IRS actually expects to answer this tax season: 71. And believe it or not, this is a big improvement from 2008, when barely over half (52.8%) of phone calls from taxpayers were answered.
Oh yeah, and in a 2008 report, the IRS said that it collected $32 billion less than it thought it had from taxpayers over the previous three years. How could they be so far off—27% less than had originally been reported? They’re not sure, or at least they don’t feel like explaining.
Read more in the Washington Post story, in which a government spokesperson swears the IRS:
“is committed to providing the best possible service to every taxpayer.”