NYT: I.R.S. to Close Walk-In Centers as Agency Faces Tighter Budget

[DeepModem Mom]

I.R.S. to Close Walk-In Centers as Agency Faces Tighter Budget
By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON

Published: April 10, 2005


After widely publicized hearings seven years ago, Congress passed a law ordering the Internal Revenue Service to enhance services to taxpayers, improvements that were financed by cutting enforcement of the tax laws to make sure telephones were answered and forms were readily available. That era is now ending.

The I.R.S. will close up to 105 of its 367 walk-in centers, which dispense forms and advice, said Mark W. Everson, the agency's commissioner. Hours when the I.R.S. answers telephone calls will also be reduced, he said. After the current tax return filing season ends on Friday, people with simple tax returns will no longer be able to file using a touch-tone telephone. Last year 3.8 million taxpayers, most of them with low incomes, used this Tele-File system.

President Bush, in his budget for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1, wants to cut money to respond to taxpayer requests for help by 1.3 percent and money to reach out to taxpayers by 6.8 percent compared with the current fiscal year. The $57 million in proposed cuts is about one-half of 1 percent of the I.R.S. budget of 10.2 billion.

The walk-in center closings and related cuts will save $17 million to $21 million annually, Mr. Everson said....

***

Senator Christopher S. Bond, the Missouri Republican who is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said on Thursday at a hearing on the I.R.S. budget that service to taxpayers generates revenue and thus should not be treated as the same kind of expense as most government spending....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/10/politics/10irs.html

[Rose Siding]

1. More shortsighted destruction from our One Party Government.

[dArKeR]

2. I've been calling the IRS phone line since 1982 and went to a walk-in

4 times (twice overseas.) Excellent service in these departments. Very polite and they actually find the exact answers and can clearly explain it. When I had some corrupt lying whore Limited Partnership investments from Dean Witter (the whore became Morgan Stanley), in which I got ripped off as every investor did, there were these complicated types of rules. The lady couldn't answer them but a person who could got right back to me. And it's not like calling the telephone company, service centers, product warranties... where you're on hold from 10 to 40 minutes. I can guarantee you this is a service NOT being used by the aWol type Power Elite Whores so it's being cut.

Shame on America!

[suffragette]

3. looks like IRS is being privatized

From article above:
500 jobs to be lost
The IRS did not hire any tax collectors last year and is not hiring auditors, known as revenue agents, fast enough to replace those who are leaving, said Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents most IRS workers. She said about 500 jobs will be lost in the first round of closings of the walk-in sites.

From IRS getting new ally: collection agencies
By Melissa Harris

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002236764_irs10.html

The Internal Revenue Service, which estimates that more than 1 million people cheated on their taxes last year, is about to do what private businesses have been doing for years: hire collection agencies to go after the nonpayers.

The plan has angered the federal employees who now do the work and have seen their ranks cut in recent years, and also has raised complaints from privacy advocates.

Especially worrisome to critics is a provision that calls for private contractors to receive up to 25 percent of the money they recover — something that could encourage aggressive tactics.

Deputy IRS Commissioner Rich Morgante said that outside collectors will not steal government jobs but rather build on the agency's existing efforts.

Let's see. You stop hiring people in the government union positions, then outsource those positions to private companies. I guess that's technically not "stealing" the jobs since they are giving away major functions of the IRS. :eyes:
And I'm sure these private agencies will have similar oversight to prevent abuses. :sarcasm:

So, low and middle income people have a more difficult time getting free customer service and filing taxes, some of them will need to pay for help from private companies, decent paying union, civil service jobs (which have also traditionally been a way for low income people to join the middle class) are cut and another union is broken, and jobs are outsourced to private firms which will likely have limited or no oversight.
Yet another shift that will be good for the corporations and bad for the people.

[DeepModem Mom]

4. Thanks for posting this -- and you're right about "privatization" --

they love it; it puts money in the pockets of their supporters/enablers.

[suffragette]

5. exactly

And they're taking it out of the mouths of union employees.

Also, there's all that private info that the private companies will now be able to access. Another database to be in and worry about.