Geithner: IRS Will Get Half of Treasury Budget Hike

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has asked Congress to increase his agency's budget by 5.3 percent to $13.4 billion for 2010, according to testimony he is delivering today to a House panel.

Nearly half of the $676 million increase -- $332 million -- would go toward new IRS enforcement efforts, including the hiring of nearly 800 new agents to hunt down offshore tax-evaders, corporations and rich Americans, Geithner's testimony reads.

Geithner's budget proposes axing the Advanced Earned Income Tax Credit program, "which provides benefits in advance of filing a tax return," his testimony reads. The program "has been prone to exceptionally high levels of error and low use by those eligible for it," Geithner says.

The budget would also save $2 million by eliminating four of its 20 "international economic attaches," who "keep us apprised of developments around the world," Geithner says.

Geithner says that Treasury has no plans to ask Congress for additional bailout funds. Indeed, yesterday he noted that Treasury still has nearly $100 billion unspent bailout money.

-- Frank Ahrens
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