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Washington, D.C.—In the wake of an outpouring of congressional concern surrounding the recent loss of Veterans Administration (VA) data, Congress should not overlook the major threat to American taxpayers looming as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) prepares to begin turning over taxpayer data to contractors. The agency is scheduled to begin providing sensitive financial taxpayer data to private sector debt collection companies this summer.

Tomorrow the House Government Reform Committee, at a 10 a.m. hearing, will focus on personal information security at federal agencies—including the theft of a VA computer external hard drive containing information on millions of retired and active members of the military.

It is likely, as well, said President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), that the recent loss by the IRS of a laptop computer containing information on some 291 new hires and job applicants also will come under discussion.

“And when it does, I hope the committee links the loss of that information to the serious risks to taxpayers’ personal and private information inherent in the IRS plan to turn over the records of some 2.65 million taxpayers annually to private sector debt collectors,” she said. “Given the agency’s sorry record on security, its privatization plan is like printing the taxpayer information in the Federal Register for everyone to see.”

The NTEU leader said that “fortunately, the full House has the opportunity to do something about this outrage.”

It can, she said, approve action taken by the House Appropriations Committee Monday to include in its markup of the fiscal 2007 Transportation-Treasury Appropriations bill an amendment by Rep. Steve Rothman (D-NJ) that would prohibit the IRS from using any funds under the appropriations bill from being used for the privatization program. The House is expected to take up the transportation-treasury funding bill next week.

NTEU, which has been opposed to the IRS tax privatization program since it was proposed, strongly supports the Rothman amendment, and other House legislation—H.R. 1621—that would revoke the agency’s authority to hire private sector debt collectors.

“The idea of hiring private debt collectors makes no sense whatsoever, from an economic standpoint or when viewed in light of the importance of protecting taxpayer privacy,” President Kelley said. “IRS employees are accountable to the taxpayers they serve and can do this work more cost-effectively. Private debt collectors, on the other hand, consistently lead businesses as the industry that draws the most consumer complaints in America.”

As the largest independent union, NTEU represents some 150,000 federal workers in 30 agencies and departments, including 90,000 in the IRS.