New Numbers on Open IRS Tax Debt Cases

The new IRS Data Book is out, with information on IRS enforcement activities in , so it’s time to update my graphs:

I was expecting sharper rises in the numbers than these, given the increased unfunded responsibilities of the IRS, the corresponding drop in enforcement personnel, and the down economy, which tends to cause more (not necessarily willful) failure to pay taxes.

I may be misjudging the effect of the economy. It may be that so many people are moving off of the income tax rolls entirely that many potential scofflaws are now just part of the “lucky ducky” set.