We have railed against the Internal Revenue Service using private tax collectors for a long time. At the very least, having tax data in non-IRS control is just bad policy especially since we read every so often about the agency's own employees being terminated for snooping around tax files belonging to celebrities or neighbors.We hate the notion that a collection agent, regardless of how many documents are signed, can be given access to the same kind of information. We know that the information is given when taxes are allegedly owed (although dispute issues still remain unclear), but having federal tax information in the hands of private companies incentivized to collect revenue gives us a bad feeling.
Things are looking up, however, because even IRS Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olsen reported to Congress that the private debt collectors are "falling far short" of the IRS' goals. We were worried about privacy issues, but we should have been worried about the program's management.
Olson reported to Congress that the private collection agencies only managed to collect $31 million of more than $180 million expected. Worse, the program cost more than it took in. The IRS sold this program to legislators by claiming that the program would generate $1.5 billion to $2.2 billion over a 10 year period. Right now, the program is only $1.47 billion behind for the next 9 years.
To her credit, Olson continues to call for the program to end. To buttress her argument, she shared that the collection agents are not required to divulge the scripts their agents use when calling potential debtors, or as we like to call them, citizens. The IRS is reportedly blind to the scripts used (which none of us who have ever hired a call center would ever allow) and the program continues on in 2008.
Are you outraged yet? Good. Contact your local legislators. If you're not sure who to contact, here are links for the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. Tell your representatives that you won't tolerate gross financial mismanagement, lack of accountability from private contractors doing government work you pay for and taxpayer information released to non-government employees.
Labels: collections, IRS, taxes
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