Privatize IRS overdue tax collection?

Well, the Senate Passed a bill S. 1637 by a vote of 92 to 5 which woiuld allow for subcontracting to private contractors to collect taxes owed to the IRS.

S.1637 is called the "Jumpstart Our Business Strength (JOBS) Act" and Sections 487 and 6306 both relate to privatizing the collection system. You can read the full bill through the Thomas Locator.

Now this goes to the realm of the stupid in my opinion. It seems totally unwise, and an invasion of privacy, to give private corporations access to tax payer information. As noted in the GovExec article:

"Privatizing the function is not only the most inefficient way to collect tax debts," said NTEU President Colleen Kelley in a statement criticizing the Senate bill. "It puts private and sensitive taxpayer information at unacceptable risk by making it available to the most complained-about industry in America -- debt collectors."

Previous attempts to outsource debt collection have failed, Kelley noted. But the Bush administration supports the limited use of private debt collectors to free up resources for IRS agents to focus on more complex enforcement cases. The president proposed private collection in his fiscal 2004 and 2005 budget requests. "

Yet another opportunity to write your legislators.

Posted by rowan at May 15, 2004 7:28 AM | TrackBack | [eMail this article!] |