Taxpayer demand for human help soars, despite IRS automation

In the past decade, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service has invested heavily in online self-service technology, including programs such as "Where's my Refund?" But, almost paradoxically, taxpayer demand for personal service via telephone has increased dramatically over this same period.
In 2006, the IRS received 64 million calls from taxpayers, but last year the volume reached 102 million, a 59% increase.
Many of those calls are handled by people, not by self-service systems. In 2006, the IRS rou