The IRS is asking for $12.8 billion for 2013 — that’s over $944 million more than their 2012 budget.  And $404 million of that will be spent on enforcement.  There will be more audits and more aggressive collection efforts in the near future.  Tax relief will be harder to come by and I don’t imagine that stacking tax debts will not be tolerated.

The only way the government can justify spending so much on the IRS is if they can expect a healthy return on the investment, and the IRS believes it can deliver.  In fact, the IRS’s crystal ball shows it will collect $1.48 billion with the increased funding.

How else will the money be spent?  Here are the IRS’ priorities:

• increased scrutiny of offshore accounts and foreign financial transactions
• crack down on fraudulent returns and identity theft
• enhancing compliance and professionalism of return preparers
• improvement of IT programs

Things are going to be very difficult for taxpayers who have fallen on hard times and can’t pay.  And to make matters worse, according to Fox Business writer Bonnie Lee, there’s no funding left over for improving customer service.