WASHINGTON – As the Internal Revenue Service prepares to implement a new program that sends private debt collection agencies after delinquent taxpayers, critics, including several lawmakers and the employee union at the Treasury Department, are gearing up to protest it.
Opponents say that the IRS will pay private debt collectors more to do what government-paid employees could do and that the agency is not doing enough to let the public know about the new program, set to launch in early September.
“I think taxpayers will be very offended and appalled that their tax information is being handed over to” non-IRS tax agents, said National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley, adding that she has “no confidence at all” in the agency’s ability to make sure the private firms are not overstepping their bounds.
The IRS acknowledges the plan will cost more than hiring additional agents to do the same work, but it points out that Congress authorized the use of such firms in 2004. The plan is being implemented now because the IRS has funds allocated for such a program and doesn’t believe it can get budget authorization to hire additional agents at a time when Congress is cutting government spending to help reduce the federal budget deficit. The agency also says strict security policies are in place with the new program.
“It is a sound, balanced program that respects taxpayers’ rights and taxpayer privacy,” said IRS spokesman Terry Lemons.
The agency chose three companies from 33 bidders in March: CBE Group Inc., in Waterloo, Iowa; Linebarger Goggan Blair &Sampson LLP in Austin, Texas; and Pioneer Credit Recovery Inc., in Arcade, N.Y. Pioneer Credit is a subsidiary of SLM Corp., commonly known as Sallie Mae. The IRS plans to expand the program to as many as 10 companies in 2008 with a goal of collecting $1.4 billion over 10 years, Lemons said.
The private agencies will get 22 percent to 24 percent of the tax money they collect, although Lemons said he didn’t have an estimate for how much they might collect the first year.
Taxpayers in the program first will receive a letter from the IRS that includes the name of the private company that will be contacting them about the debt. The private firm will then send another letter to begin the collection process.
“If you’re part of the program, you’re going to know it,” Lemons said.
Critics say that’s not good enough. “These companies will be paid based on the money collected, which invites inappropriate and aggressive tactics” that IRS agents had been accused of the in past, Kelly said. She added that consumers filed more complaints at the Federal Trade Commission against the debt collection industry than any other in 2005.
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