Bloomberg Tax has published an extensive interview with National President Reardon about IRS funding and other important issues facing federal employees.
Reardon sat down with reporter Robert Lee on Aug. 3 at NTEU headquarters for an in-depth interview.
Reardon talked about the loss of $715 million in funding and 22,000 full-time IRS employees since 2010.
“If there haven't been enough people or resources at the IRS, I think it stands to reason that this problem will remain if now you bring in the largest tax legislation since 1986,” Reardon said. “When you think about that, and how we're supposed to have the necessary funding and people to implement tax reform and continue to do all the other tax administration work required by the IRS, it's a scary thing.”
Reardon was also asked about the private debt collection program mandated by Congress that requires the IRS to refer certain tax collection cases to private contractors. NTEU has opposed the program.
“The best people to enforce the tax code and to work on tax administration are IRS employees, period,” Reardon said.
Reardon also discussed the harmful effects of the president’s May 25 executive orders.
“Leaders should not treat their employees this way. And I think we can show them that if they work with their front-line employees, implement the good ideas, and let them have a role in talking about the workplace, we're going to start to see more collaboration and good things come out of our government,” Reardon said.