Larry Gibbs was quoted regarding a letter written by seven former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) commissioners on November 9, 2015, to the U.S. House and Senate Appropriations committees calling for an increased fiscal budget for 2016. Gibbs, who served as IRS commissioner from 1986 to 1989, said the letter is a response to a call from help earlier this year from current Commissioner John Koskinen. "The letter is the culmination of the thoughts of all the commissioners" who signed it, he said. "It's not a political document in any way. I think the letter speaks for itself."

The former IRS Commissioners' letter describes various cuts to IRS funding resulting in the loss of nearly 15,000 IRS employees through attrition over the past five years, the diminished levels of taxpayer service, the reduction in the number of IRS audits and tax collection activities, and the substantial loss of tax revenue, all of which were exacerbated by the increase in the IRS's responsibility for implementing key legislation. "Over the last fifty years, none of us has ever witnessed anything like what has happened to the IRS appropriations over the last five years and the impact these appropriations reductions are having on our tax system," the letter said.

This article was reprinted in Tax Notes on November 16, 2015.