Every dollar spent enforcing U.S. tax laws yields $6 in collections, said Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew as he urged Congress to support the Internal Revenue Service’s request for a $1 billion budget increase.

The IRS is seeking $12.9 billion for fiscal year 2014, a 9 percent increase from this year.

Lew criticized the across-the-board spending cuts that started in March, saying they are causing the IRS to plan at least five days when it will furlough employees and close its offices to the public.

“This will erode our ability to provide quality service,” Lew told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee in Washington. “The sequester is not only hurting Treasury’s employees. It’s hurting taxpayers as well.”