On the heels of some negative publicity private companies have received in the aftermath of two controversial issues over at the IRS - regarding a decision to change the rules governing the privacy rights of citizen's tax return information and a new program outsourcing collection of overdue taxes - more bad news came out of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) yesterday for paid tax preparation companies such as H&R Block.

Following up on a previous posting from last week, an article that ran yesterday in govexec.com reported that two private collection companies have filed a complaint with the General Accountability Office (GAO) protesting the selection of a third firm (Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson) to receive a contract to collect outstanding taxes owed to the IRS.

The 2005 budget cuts reconciliation bill's future still hangs in the balance as the public interest group Public Citizen has challenged the law's constitutionality - rightly claiming the president's signed a bill that was never passed by Congress. The timing of the next steps in the lawsuit is unclear. The Washington Post wrote a very good editorial over the weekend on the issue.

This just in from the U.S. Department of Supreme Irony - most of us think Congress can't get any more puzzling, but then along comes this little tid bit from yesterday's Senate floor session. The Senate unanimously approved a resolution yesterday (S Res 410) designating April 2006 as "Financial Literacy Month," in the hopes of raising public awareness about the importance of financial education in the United States and the serious consequences that may result from a lack of understanding about personal finances. The only thing to really say at this point is, are they serious?