(THE HILL) — The IRS commissioner on Tuesday brushed aside GOP proposals to abolish his agency, insisting the U.S. would have to have a tax collector one way or another.
“You can call them something other than the IRS if that made you feel better,” the agency’s chief, John Koskinen, said after a speech at the National Press Club.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) perhaps has made the most prominent calls to get rid of the IRS, which Republicans have heaped even more criticism upon over the last 22 months because of the agency’s improper scrutiny of Tea Party groups.
Cruz, while launching his presidential bid this month, floated the idea of “a simple flat tax that lets every American fill out his or her taxes on a postcard.”