In what appears to be a case of unintended consequences, Congress is giving tax cheats a break and making life more difficult for honest taxpayers.

Why would Congress do that?

The answer has to do with Congress, at least most Republicans, wanting to make it difficult for the Internal Revenue Service to do its job related to the implementation of Obamacare. Another reason has to do with Republicans wanting to punish the IRS with budget cuts as payback for the scandal involving extra IRS scrutiny for tea party-type groups seeking tax exempt status.

Whatever the reasoning behind IRS cuts, they spell trouble for average taxpayers.

A recent report by the National Taxpayer Advocate predicted that this year only half of the people calling the IRS with questions will get through. And for those who do get to talk to a person at the IRS, the wait time will be more than 30 minutes.

Cutting the IRS budget might be a politically smart move by Republicans — everybody hates the IRS. But while some of the criticism is justified, the agency cannot be blamed for the complex and loophole-ridden tax code. That’s the fault of Congress.

Cutting the IRS budget feeds into the generally misplaced anger directed at the IRS for doing the thankless job of collecting taxes and interpreting tax law. Worse, these cuts will hurt average, honest taxpayers.

Beyond making it harder to get questions answered, the cuts mean fewer audits will be done. And fewer audits will mean more tax cheats get away with not paying their fair share. That, in turn, means honest taxpayers will pay more to make up the difference — or what the cheaters don’t pay will add to the annual deficit.

Late last year, Congress approved a $10.9 billion budget for the IRS, which represents a $346 million cut from the previous year. Since 2010, funding for the IRS has been cut 17 percent, when adjusted for inflation.

The latest cuts come at a time when the IRS will be burdened with verifying income for people receiving subsidies for Obama-care health insurance coverage. Without the IRS checking, people can game the system, getting subsidies they don’t deserve.

For some Republicans in Congress, seeing the IRS fail in its role in implementing Obama-care will provide more evidence of the law’s unworkability. But by using this back-door attack on Obamacare, Congress will cause aggravation and financial pain for many taxpayers.

It is possible that the IRS is cutting staff to maximize public pain, hoping public pressure on Congress will help restore funding. But, the facts are clear — budget cuts have meant the IRS is not replacing 1,800 tax collectors lost through attrition. After years of funding cuts, there are 5,000 fewer enforcement agents than four years ago. Reduced staffing means the agency will do 46,000 fewer audits, meaning more tax cheats will get away with not paying what they owe.

Cutting the budget for the IRS makes no sense. These days, the agency has to process 30 million returns, deal with new and complicated Obamacare issues, try to catch ever more complicated tax-avoidance schemes, and be careful not to send undeserved tax refunds to scammers using identity theft.

When these jobs are not done right, taxpayers lose — and the scammers and tax cheats win.

Rather than cutting the IRS budget, Congress should be increasing the agency’s funding to reduce undeserved refunds and to catch tax cheats. It’s been estimated that for every dollar of additonal spending on enforcement and auditing, the IRS brings in $4 more in tax revenue. Hiring more IRS workers, at least in auditing and fraud prevention, actually makes more money for the U.S. Treasury.

Congress, at least anti-IRS members, didn’t think through the consequences of IRS budget cuts. Or, maybe, tax cheats and identity theft scammers have lobbyists who encouraged cutting the IRS budget because they knew it would help their clients.