Bill Pascrell: “this is a cooked-up survey that was just referred to. In the words of the former IRS Commissioner, Mark Iverson…”

“this is a cooked-up survey that was just referred to. In the words of the former IRS Commissioner, Mark Iverson, appointed by President Bush, he testified that the IRS can collect Federal taxes more cheaply, more efficiently than private companies. I rest my case. I rise in strong support of H.R. 3056. This legislation is designed to protect taxpayers by repealing the authorization for the IRS to use private contractors to collect Federal income taxes. Few would disagree that the collection of Federal taxes is an inherent government function. We have seen, through multiple hearings in Ways and Means, that privatizing and outsourcing this fundamental role has been a mistake on many levels. We've learned of numerous cases of harassment, not overexaggeration, on the record, abusive calling, violations of the rights of taxpayers. We've discovered that some taxpayers, many of whom were elderly, have had to endure literally hundreds of phone calls from private collectors. We listened to those phone calls. We had them on tape. Tapes are a terrible thing, you know. They don't lie. Other cases involve people in nursing homes, those who have served in Iraq, and low-income taxpayers facing economic hardships. And as if taxpayer harassment was not enough, we have also seen that the program is inefficient. So far, privatizing tax collection has actually cost us money. Currently, we are $50 million in the hole. The IRS has spent $71 million to collect a net of $20 million.”