In other words, the budget takes note of recent issues that have reflected poorly on the IRS, including the Service's enhanced scrutiny of politically conservative groups that were seeking tax-exempt status as 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations, and the disclosure of certain training videos that spoofed several old television shows and were deemed wasteful. John Koskinen, the new IRS Commissioner, has many challenges ahead of him, including restoring public confidence in the agency and boosting employee morale. National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson has been the National Taxpayer Advocate since 2001. She heads up the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS), which was created in 2000, and is an independent organization within the IRS. Ms. Olson and the TAS are the taxpayer's 'voice at the IRS." The TAS is designed to help taxpayers navigate issues with the IRS when the usual channels have failed; in addition. Ms. Olson regularly focuses on larger issues within the IRS and the tax system itself, and recommends solutions. Her year-end Annual Reports to Congress are thorough and thoughtful, and in part, detail what she views as the most serious issues facing taxpayers. Ms. Olson's 2013 Annual Report was released on January 9, 2014, and, as always, is interesting reading. One of the critical issues Ms. Olson focuses on in this report is that the IRS "desperately needs more funding to serve taxpayers and increase voluntary compliance. Ms. Olson presents some compelling statistics to support this statement. In fiscal year 2013, for example: • The IRS received about 109 million phone calls; only 61% of the callers seeking a customer service representative got through, and those who did had to wait an average of 18 minutes before speaking with someone. • The IRS received about 8.4 million letters from taxpayers responding to proposed adjustments to their tax accounts; it was unable to respond to 53% of this correspondence within its target timeframes. • T