In advance of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee markup, opponents of current efforts to prohibit the IRS from outsourcing its collection of outstanding taxes have come out in force. The head of the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals sent a letter to Senate appropriators on July 14 asking them to oppose any amendment that would prohibit the IRS from using any of its fiscal year 2007 funds to hire private debt collectors.

This effort to allow the IRS to continue with a controversial program to outsource its tax collection is shameless and self-motivated. Under the provisions of the program, the companies being used to collect overdue taxes would be allowed to keep 22 - 24 percent of the money they collect.

Thanks to the dedicated effort of Rep. Steve Rothman (D-NJ), the House passed the FY 2007 Transportation-Treasury appropriations bill with an amendment prohibiting the use of any resources to implement the outsourcing program. After hearings on the issue with the Commissioner of the IRS, it was discovered the IRS could expand its enforcement and compliance efforts and collect the same money, but without the almost 25 percent "users fee" imposed by the private collection agencies.

Unfortunately, no Senator offered the Rothman amendment yesterday during the markup of the Senate version of the appropriations bill. The bill will be on the Senate floor tomorrow and if no amendment is offered to stop funding for this ridiculous waste of government resources, the issue will move to a conference commitee on the appropriations bill. It is very likely the Rothman amendment will be stripped at that time.

More to come on this program as the week moves on.