It would be absurd to spend $10,000 to generate $1,000* in revenue. To avoid this sort of folly, organizations typically ascertain how much a new project will cost and how much revenue it will generate before they decide to implement it. Not so much for acting IRS Commissioner Kevin Brown (no link, sorry): [In testimony before the Financial Services and General Government Subcommitte] Brown said money collected by [private collection] agencies contributed funds to the treasury IRS does not have the resources to collect. When Durbin cited data concluding that it costs more to collect $100 using the agencies than IRS agents, Brown said the two workforces are not comparable, but added IRS is working on an cost analysis of using the private agencies that is expected to be completed by the end of 2007. *To clarify - these are hypothetical numbers