(Bloomberg) -- The IRS has fixed its errors, such as improperextra scrutiny of Tea Party groups, and they won’t happen again,the tax agency’s commissioner said Tuesday.

“The changes are so significant throughout the agency that youcould hang a sign on our headquarters saying ‘Under NewManagement,’” Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinensaid in prepared remarks for a speech at the National Press Club inWashington.

The IRS has imposed limits to prevent problems such asoverspending on conferences and videos, and inappropriate scrutinyof politically oriented nonprofit groups, he said.

“While these problems are important, and deserved our attentionand the remedies we have applied, they are from a prior era,” hesaid, according to the prepared text. “We have addressed them sothey will not happen again. That really does make it a new day atthe IRS. It’s not the IRS of 2010, 2011 or even 2012.”

To bolster his point, Koskinen said that 46 percent of theagency’s executives -- including two-thirds of the seniorleadership team -- have left since October 2011. While the IRS is alarge agency and will always have some problems, the key is to findand address them quickly, he said.

Congress has been investigating the IRS and restricting itsbudget since May 2013, when the agency revealed that it had givenextra scrutiny to the applications of Tea Party groups seekingtax-exempt status. Other issues -- including lavish conferences, anembarrassing Star Trek-themed video and bonuses paid totax-delinquent employees -- emerged after that.

Bigger Workload

Koskinen, 75, became commissioner in December 2013. He is tryingto persuade Congress to increase the agency’s budget after a 3percent cut this year. At the same time the agency’s workload hasexpanded, partly because of its responsibility to implement partsof Obamacare.

With the budget cuts, the commissioner has warned of decliningservice to taxpayers and said the government won’t be able tocollect as much money through tax enforcement.

“Further cuts, with the increasing responsibilities we face,threaten to destroy the ability of the IRS to discharge itsfundamental responsibilities,” he said.

Republican lawmakers have told Koskinen that he won’t get whathe’s requesting. They say they haven’t seen the kind of culturalshift at the IRS that Koskinen has claimed credit for.

Republican Representative Peter Roskam of Illinois toldreporters earlier this month that institutions like the IRS don’tchange without outside pressure.

“We’re going to try to influence this for the good,” saidRoskam, chairman of a House oversight subcommittee. “Where we areon the diagnostic? How loud is the clap meter right now? Prettyquiet, I’d say. I think we’ve got a long way to go in terms ofconfidence-building.”

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