February 14th, 2018 by WCBC Radio
U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have introduced legislation to repeal authority from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to contract with private collection agencies (PCAs) to collect unpaid taxes. Now in its third iteration, each time the program has been allowed to function, it has been shown to cost the federal government more money than it takes in while targeting some of the most vulnerable taxpayers – potentially violating their rights.
“We cannot continue to waste money using private collection agencies to collect tax debt,” said Senator Cardin, a senior member of the Senate Finance Taxation & IRS Oversight Subcommittee. “Putting a bulls-eye on the back of low-income taxpayers has lost taxpayer dollars every time it has been tried. It needs to stop for good.”
“Taxpayer dollars shouldn’t be spent employing private collection agencies so they can shakedown low-income workers. This is a textbook example of government waste, and we should fix it before more taxpayer dollars are misused,” said Senator Sherrod Brown, ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee.
“The IRS private debt collection program is nothing more than a waste of taxpayer money,” said Senator Warren, a member of the Senate Banking Committee. “Not one penny of Americans’ hard-earned pay should be going towards ineffective private collection agencies. I’m glad to work with Senators Cardin and Brown to finally abolish this harmful program.”
In 2015, a provision requiring the Secretary of Treasury to contract with PCAs was included as an offset to the highway funding extension bill. At the time, many Senators, the Treasury, the National Taxpayer Advocate (NTA), and a coalition of civil and consumer rights groups objected to its inclusion, citing concerns that ranged from cost to taxpayer confusion.
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