Taxpayers should brace for lousy service as agency cuts back its service in 2015.

IRS IS HURTING FROM CUTS

Agency's service is likely to decline

The Internal Revenue Service may be the least-loved arm of the federal government. For tax-hating Republican lawmakers still angry over what they see as IRS malfeasance, the antipathy is especially strong.

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said last week that the budget punishment has been so harsh that he may have to shut down the agency sometime this summer.

Koskinen's warning comes on the heels of an ominous report from national taxpayer advocate Nina Olson, who represents everyday Americans' concerns at the IRS.

In her annual report to Congress, Olson described an impending customer service disaster as the agency struggles to do an ever-more-complex job with less and less money.

About half of the 100 million or so people who will try to call the IRS this year probably won't get through.

FROM AN EDITORIAL IN THE WASHINGTON POST