美国国家公共电台 NPR--Tax deadline arrives as the IRS embarks on a 10-year, $80 billion makeover

Tax deadline arrives as the IRS embarks¹ on a 10-year, $80 billion makeover

Transcript²

Tuesday is the deadline to file your income taxes. After years of underfunding, the IRS is beefing up to improve customer service, and to make sure people actually pay the taxes they owe.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

More than 90 million people have filed tax returns so far this year, but some of us wait till the last minute. And for most people, that's midnight tonight.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

The IRS has automatically extended the deadline for parts of some states that have experienced natural disasters, such as California, Alabama and Tennessee. Taxes come due this year as the IRS is embarking³ on a 10-year, $80 billion makeover to crack down on tax cheats and improve customer service.

FADEL: NPR's Scott Horsley joins us now. Happy tax day, Scott.

SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE⁴: Good morning, Leila.

FADEL: Good morning. So let's talk about that $80 billion. How's the IRS going to spend it, and what will that mean for taxpayers⁵?

HORSLEY: Some of the money is going to go to replace outdated⁶ computer hardware. A lot of it's going to go for new personnel so the IRS can do a better job of collecting the money the government needs to operate. You know, for more than a decade, the agency has been starved of resources. So the new IRS commissioner⁷, Danny Werfel, plans to hire a lot more auditors⁸ and lawyers to make sure that wealthy people pay the taxes they owe.

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DANNY WERFEL: Despite what some might think or say, these public servants within the IRS are armed only with calculators and their skills to help us address complex issues.

HORSLEY: Now, the administration says the stepped-up enforcement will focus on people making more than $400,000 a year, especially those with the most complicated returns and more avenues for cheating. For the average wage earner, the IRS already knows how much money you make, so the opportunities for tax evasion⁹ are pretty limited.

FADEL: The image of a bunch of public servants armed with calculators. So what's the IRS doing to improve customer service?

HORSLEY: Customer service really suffered in recent years, especially during the depths of the pandemic. Last year, for example, 9 out of 10 phone calls to the IRS went unanswered. This year, though, the agency has hired 5,000 more people to help staff the phone lines.

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COMPUTER-GENERATED VOICE: Welcome to the Internal Revenue Service. To continue in English, press 1.

HORSLEY: Hold times have been cut from an average of 27 minutes last year to just four minutes this year. And Treasury¹⁰ Secretary Janet Yellen says the agency is now consistently answering 80 to 90% of the incoming calls.

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JANET YELLEN: That is a dramatic improvement compared to the previous filing season.

HORSLEY: Yellen says this $80 billion investment will transform the IRS into what she calls a modern, 21st century agency. That means more speedy online communication with taxpayers, less mailing of paper back and forth¹¹. Of course, there are always some folks who like doing things the old-fashioned way.

FADEL: Yeah. And you spoke¹² with one of those people. Tell us about him.

HORSLEY: Yeah, I talked to Jay Zagorsky, who's a professor at Boston University's Questrom School of Business. He's a big believer in cash, which he says works even when the power goes out or the internet's down. He owed the government just over a thousand dollars in taxes this year, and, as an experiment, he tried to pay the bill in cash.

JAY ZAGORSKY: My goal was not to be a protest at all. As a matter of fact, I went to the bank and got crisp $100 bills and exact change to make this process as easy as possible for the IRS.

HORSLEY: Now, the IRS does have instructions on its website for how to pay in cash, but it's not easy. You have to make an appointment. Zagorsky actually had to make two trips to the IRS. Various retailers¹³ will accept cash payments for the agency, and you can buy a prepaid credit card and then pay online. But, you know, all those options have fees attached, and Zagorsky thinks it ought to be easier, especially for the 6 million people who don't have a bank account. Of course, a lot of those folks have the opposite problem - not how to pay additional taxes due, but how to affordably collect their refund¹⁴.

FADEL: NPR's Scott Horsley. Thanks, Scott.

HORSLEY: You're welcome.

1 embarks   

乘船( embark的第三人称单数 )； 装载； 从事

参考例句：

• Patricia is a free-spirited girl who embarks on an erotic odyssey. 翠茜亚是个任性少女、毅然踏上一次性爱之旅。
• Passenger train driver: Punctually embarks. 客车司机：准时出发。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 embarking   

乘船( embark的现在分词 )； 装载； 从事

参考例句：

• He's embarking on a new career as a writer. 他即将开始新的职业生涯——当一名作家。
• The campaign on which were embarking was backed up by such intricate and detailed maintenance arrangemets. 我们实施的战争，须要如此复杂及详细的维护准备。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

6 outdated   

adj.旧式的，落伍的，过时的；v.使过时

参考例句：

• That list of addresses is outdated,many have changed.那个通讯录已经没用了，许多地址已经改了。
• Many of us conform to the outdated customs laid down by our forebears.我们许多人都遵循祖先立下的过时习俗。

7 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

8 auditors   

n.审计员，稽核员( auditor的名词复数 )；（大学课程的）旁听生

参考例句：

• The company has been in litigation with its previous auditors for a full year. 那家公司与前任审计员已打了整整一年的官司。
• a meeting to discuss the annual accounts and the auditors' report thereon 讨论年度报表及其审计报告的会议

9 evasion   

n.逃避，偷漏(税)

参考例句：

• The movie star is in prison for tax evasion.那位影星因为逃税而坐牢。
• The act was passed as a safeguard against tax evasion.这项法案旨在防止逃税行为。

10 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

11 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

12 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

13 retailers   

零售商，零售店( retailer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• High street retailers reported a marked increase in sales before Christmas. 商业街的零售商报告说圣诞节前销售量显著提高。
• Retailers have a statutory duty to provide goods suitable for their purpose. 零售商有为他们提供符合要求的货品的法定义务。

14 refund   

v.退还，偿还；n.归还，偿还额，退款

参考例句：

• They demand a refund on unsatisfactory goods.他们对不满意的货品要求退款。
• We'll refund your money if you aren't satisfied.你若不满意，我们愿意退款给你。