The president of the National Treasury Employees Union,
which represents about 90,000 IRS employees and has been
an outspoken critic of the plan, complained that,
“American taxpayers can no longer have the confidence
that federal tax collections are not based on personal gain.”
The union has warned that the use of private firms for
tax collection jeopardizes sensitive taxpayer information
by handing it over to the debt collection industry, and
argues that IRS employees could do the work more cheaply.
“We will be closely monitoring contractor performance to
make sure they’re following the law as well as our own
internal standards,” said IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson.
The situation is being watched across government as a
possible indicator of where the dividing line will
ultimately fall between work that is considered inherently
governmental and that which can be contracted out.
