The tax agency is shrinking fast while federal debt climbs, which is bad news for revenue collection and a talking point for people who want the income tax gone.

• The IRS has cut about a quarter of its staff and had its budget trimmed repeatedly, so audits and enforcement are falling.
• Its computers still run on 1960s code across more than a hundred systems that do not talk to each other, and decades of attempts to modernize have failed.
• By the agency's own estimate, roughly 80 million Americans do not file a return, and most enforcement letters are automated with little follow-up.
• Freedom Law School founder Peyman Mottahedeh, who says he has not paid federal income tax in 33 years, pushes the theory that the law only binds people in Washington DC — a claim courts have rejected every time it has been raised, and one that has landed people in prison for tax evasion.
• The backdrop: federal debt past $40 trillion, a weak dollar, rising gold, and Trump floating the idea of scrapping the income tax altogether.

Outlook: Expect weaker collection and more missed revenue as the agency shrinks, but no legal shelter for anyone who stops filing on the theory above.