来源：《华盛顿邮报》
原文刊登日期：2022年4月17日
This is not a normal tax year for the Internal Revenue Service. As millions of American households scramble to meet the April 18 filing deadline, it’s easy to view this as just another tax season that causes temporary annoyance and then fades in the headlines and minds of most people. But there’s a lot more at stake.
对美国国税局来说，这不是一个正常的纳税年。随着数以百万计的美国家庭争先恐后地赶在4月18日的报税截止日期前完成报税，人们很容易认为这只是又一个引起暂时烦恼的纳税季，然后就淡出了新闻头条和大多数人的视线。但还有更多的东西处于危险之中。
The IRS is currently limping along without enough staff or funding. Congress, especially Republicans, needs to face up to reality. The IRS still manually enters the information on paper tax returns into its computing system because its technology is so outdated. There’s a massive backlog of more than 7 million unprocessed individual tax returns from last year, largely because the IRS doesn’t have enough staff and resources. These delays have caused serious hardships for families waiting for thousands of dollars in refunds or trying to apply for loans but not having last year’s tax returns available.
美国国税局目前没有足够的人手和资金。国会，尤其是共和党人，需要面对现实。美国国税局仍在手动将纸质纳税申报单上的信息输入其计算系统，因为其技术太过时了。去年积压了700多万份未处理的个人纳税申报表，主要是因为国税局没有足够的人手和资源。这些延误给那些等待数千美元退款或试图申请贷款但没有去年的纳税申报单的家庭造成了严重困难。
It’s not a mystery how the IRS deteriorated. While the pandemic certainly caused additional strain on the agency, the core problem is that Republicans slashed the IRS budget about 18 percent in the past decade. That’s not belt-tightening, it’s gutting an agency. It’s no wonder staffing declined 20 percent, and the IRS now has the fewest auditors since 1953.
国税局是如何恶化的并不神秘。虽然疫情无疑给该机构带来了额外的压力，但核心问题是共和党人在过去十年里削减了美国国税局约18%的预算。这不是勒紧裤腰带，而是毁掉一家机构。难怪员工人数减少了20%，国税局现在拥有的审计人员是1953年以来最少的。
Having a fully functioning tax collection agency is fundamental to American democracy and the economy. Taxes are the main funding source for everything from the U.S. military to Medicare and Social Security. Individual income taxes alone make up half of federal revenue. Fixing the IRS should be as urgent — if not more — than rebuilding crumbling roads and bridges.
拥有一个功能齐全的税收征收机构是美国民主和经济的基础。税收是美国军队、医疗保险和社会保障等所有项目的主要资金来源。个人所得税就占了联邦收入的一半。修复国税局至少应该与重建破损的道路和桥梁一样迫切。
It’s telling that IRS Commissioner Charles P. Rettig, who was appointed by a Republican president, is begging Congress for more “stable, multi-year funding” so the agency can upgrade its systems, go after tax cheats and hire more staff.
由共和党总统任命的国税局局长查尔斯·p·雷蒂格正在请求国会提供更多“稳定的、多年期的资金”，以便国税局能够升级系统、打击偷税漏税行为并雇佣更多员工。这很能说明问题。
Congress did approve more funding for the IRS for the rest of this fiscal year and gave the agency the ability to fast-track hires, but it won’t be enough. The IRS not only needs to overhaul its technology, it also needs to hire for thousands of positions right now — and prepare for the fact that more than 50,000 IRS employees are likely to retire in the next six years.
国会确实批准了本财年剩余时间内为国税局提供更多资金，并赋予该机构快速招聘的能力，但这是不够的。国税局不仅需要彻底改革其技术，还需要立即招聘数千个职位，并为未来6年可能有5万多名国税局员工退休的事实做好准备。
The Biden administration is rightly asking for a big increase for 2023. This isn’t some Democratic wish list item; it’s about restoring the basic functions of America’s tax collection agency.
拜登政府要求在2023年大幅增加国税局预算，这是正确的。这不是民主党愿望清单上的某项；而是要恢复美国税收征收机构的基本职能。
IRS employees deserve applause for trying to do their best in a tough situation, including many working overtime. It’s encouraging that as of April 1, the IRS has processed more than 89 million tax returns, up from 83.7 million at the same point last year.
国税局的员工在艰难的情况下尽了最大努力，包括许多人加班，这值得称赞。令人鼓舞的是，截至4月1日，美国国税局已经处理了8900多万份纳税申报单，高于去年同期的8370万份。
But Amanda Walters, a tax examiner, summarized the situation at the IRS in simple, yet gloomy, terms. “I don’t know how many times I’ve heard, ‘This is not the norm,’” Walters said. “This is my norm.” IRS workers — and taxpayers — deserve better.
但税务稽查员阿曼达·沃尔特斯用简单但悲观的措辞总结了国税局的情况。沃尔特斯说：“我不知道我听过多少次，‘这不是常态’，但这是我的常态。”国税局的工作人员——以及纳税人——理应得到更好的对待。