Yesterday's LA Times had a good op-ed on tax privatization, as follows. ONCE UPON a time, the Internal Revenue Service proclaimed that its mission was "to collect the proper amount of tax revenue at the least cost, serve the public by continually improving the quality of our products and services and perform in a manner warranting the highest degree of public confidence in our integrity, efficiency and fairness." Today's mission statement says nothing about cost containment or efficiency. The IRS' purpose now is "to provide America's taxpayers top-quality service by helping them understand and meet their tax responsibilities and by applying the tax law with integrity and fairness to all." Unless Congress steps in to stop it, the IRS is set to begin implementing a wildly inefficient plan to outsource the collection of past-due taxes from those who owe $25,000 or less. TAPPED also has an interesting post commenting on the article.