The IRS said it was broke. Then it hired 700 new employees.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is in the process of hiring about 700 new enforcement employees to conduct audits and chase down tardy taxpayers, according to a memo the agency released last week. But Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform panel, thinks that plan doesn't quite add up.

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told Congress in February that he "urgently needed" $1 billion added to his budget, Chaffetz pointed out in a letter. "Now, less than three months later, without that increase, you have announced plans to increase enforcement activities," the congressman continued. "The inescapable conclusion is that your testimony to Congress was inaccurate, reflecting either an attempt to exaggerate IRS's budget needs or a management failure in understanding the needs of your organization."

For its part, the IRS maintains that the enforcement employees will bring into federal coffers $4 for every $1 they cost, and that the new hires' salaries will be paid for by retirements and unspecified budget "efficiencies" in the tax collection bureaucracy.

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