host: that is the name of eric katz publication.ainly a very complicated tax system. i think that is part of the objective. while this did not address the tax code, is addressing the loopholes you mentioned in terms of helping the agency have the resources to go after these entities that can afford to have a team of lawyers and accountants exploit those loopholes and find ways around paying what they. the previous irs commissioner talked about being outgunned. the private entities and businesses and individuals have become so good at avoiding paying what they of, and the irs was under resourced to the point they cannot do anything about it , at least that is the perspective from the irs. what they are trying to do here is even the playing field so they have the internal capacity to go after those individuals and pushback if they are exploiting laws in the way they should not be. host: that collar and a previous one had mentioned the use of government contractors, outside parties in the processing of tax returns. how prevalent is tha

as we all know, it is tax season end here to talk with us about the irs funding and staffing is eric katz, senior correspondent with the government executive and your story on the irs's plan to hire nearly 30,000 employees over the next two years. your reporting at go why is the irs want to hire this many employees? >> irs says it's been chronically understaffed, underfunded for 15 years and they are trying to correct for that and congress provided 80 billing for the next ten years to boost its roles and the resources it needs desperately. there are trying to focus on enforcement for high earning individuals and corporations and make taxpayer services better so if you call irs with the question, you can answer the call quickly and help you get your taxes filed correctly and on time. that's sort of the g goal and ty have been unable toey do that. >> 80 billion, the tax enforcement efforts 7.5illion taxpayer services, $12 billion boost in technology improvements, $4 billion in energy security and the hiring part is $8 billion but on the technology improvement, it's a pretty big number, 12 b

. >> host: certainly eric katz some of the work those people undertake is like an fbi agent in terms of analyzing accounting and things like that. that sort of background. sounds like it would fit for this position as well. >> guest: they talked about hiring more data scientists to the extent they never have -- >> speaker of the tax center is my pleasure to welcome you to how does it i raise intend to invest $80 billion over the next decade? this year symposium in honor of an extraordinary public servant donald c riddick. he served twice as a citizen sector for tax policy of the u.s. treasury department. two positions at treasury, the international monetary fund and harvard university, he held countries in the dominican republic to former soviet states modernize their tax systems to promote efficiency, fairness and growth. his deep knowledge and integrity earned respect and admiration of his colleagues at treasury and white house and hill across both sides of the aisle. throughout the tax community. he was widely viewed as a teacher, mentor and friend and is greatly missed. since 201