Two top Democrats in the House of Representatives on Monday urged the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to mimic what was done last year and extend the tax filing deadline, citing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.) and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-N.J.) said in a statement that the pandemic is putting a “titanic strain” on both the IRS and taxpayers. They supported the claim by noting that the number of returns filed by the end of February was down 25 percent from last year at the same time, with the number of returns processed by the IRS down by 31 percent. The lawmakers also said that internal data showed only about one in four calls to the IRS are being answered. At the same time, according to publicly available figures, the IRS has seen a 75 percent increase in visits to …