IRS has less money for enforcement

The U.S. tax code is fast approaching 75,000 pages, and it is growing every year in complexity and bulk. Yet as the tax code has become more byzantine, the budget for enforcing it has been shrinking.

In the name of saving money, Congress has cut funding for the agency whose job is to collect revenue and fill government coffers.

In current dollars the IRS enforcement budget declined from $5.9 billion in 2010 to $5 billion in 2013, including the effects of the government fiscal sequestration. That’s a 15 percent cut in inflation-adjusted spending.

The budget cuts have meant less staffing, with reductions in the ranks of auditors, collections officers and criminal investigators. Last year alone, staff positions in enforcement dropped 6.4 percent to the lowest total in a decade: 19,531.

Magazine circulation down 1.7%

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. » Magazine industry auditors say that total average U.S. circulation for 386 magazines fell 1.7 percent in the final six months of the year to 284.9 million.

The Alliance for Audited Media says paid subscriptions were down 1.2 percent, while newsstand sales fell about 11 percent.

Digital editions rose about 37 percent to 10.8 million, representing only 3.5 percent of total circulation. That’s up from 2.4 percent of the total in the same period a year ago.