According to the IRS, in 2015 the IRS had 8.1 million open collections cases related to unpaid taxes totaling $137 billion dollars. That’s more than the entire annual budget for the US Department of Education. The new mission statement of the softer, gentler, tax payer friendly IRS is to “provide America’s taxpayers with top quality service by helping them understand and meet their tax responsibilities and by applying tax law with integrity and fairness to all.”