“The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during January 2018 the government reported receiving 135 new referrals for prosecution from the Internal Revenue Service. According to referral-by-referral data obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number was down substantially from its peak four years ago. For the most recent twelve month period this meant that IRS referred only 1,824 taxpayers for criminal prosecution, compared with the same twelve month period four years ago when it had referred more than twice that number (3,896). Indeed, IRS referrals have not been this low since the Center’s tracking began in FY 1986 during the Reagan Administration. One reason for this decline is that IRS has fewer criminal investigators as a result of congressional cuts to its annual appropriations. The types of crimes that were the focus of IRS attention also showed change. To read the full report, go to: http://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/crim/502/.”