The Government Accountability Office released a updated response to the Senate Finance Committee after an April hearing on the tax gap. The report released by GAO concerns the Internal Revenue Services' strategic approach to reducing the tax gap. The most recent IRS calculations put the tax gap - or the difference between how much should be paid in taxes and how much actually is - betwen $312 and $353 billion per year. The majority of this comes from underreporting of taxes owed by individuals and corporations. Interestingly enough, the current projections for the FY05 budget deficit fall smack in the middle of that range, at $331 billion. While there are many more problems with growing and persistent long-term budget deficits than closing the tax gap could fix, it is nonetheless an important problem needing to be addressed by Congress and the IRS.