Home Media Center News Releases

In testimony submitted to a key House subcommittee today, the leader of the union representing Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees strongly supported the Obama administration’s budget proposal seeking a $487 million increase in IRS funding in fiscal 2011; in particular its call to boost enforcement and taxpayer service resources. The White House has proposed an IRS budget of $12.6 billion in fiscal 2011, up 4 percent from the current fiscal year.

National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Colleen M. Kelley told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government that the administration’s proposed budget would provide critical increases for service enforcement and taxpayer service activities, and would allow the IRS to continue efforts to rebuild its workforce which is still down by almost 20,000 since 1995.

“By investing in effective enforcement and taxpayer service programs, the administration’s request will ensure the IRS continues to meet its mission of providing America’s taxpayers top-quality service,” said President Kelley, adding that assertive enforcement efforts and enhanced taxpayer service programs go hand-in-hand.

Kelley also approved of the administration’s request that $2.3 billion be devoted to taxpayer services in the next fiscal year—including $20 million in additional funding for enhanced telephone service—as well as its request to increase funding for IRS tax enforcement programs by $293 million over current levels.

“A strong enforcement program that respects taxpayer rights and minimizes taxpayer burden plays a critical role in the IRS’s efforts to enhance voluntary compliance and reduce the tax gap,” she said.

Investments designed to help close the current tax gap, including programs to combat offshore tax evasion and address the underreporting of income, are expected to generate $1.9 billion in additional annual revenue—a return on investment of more than 9-to-1.

Additionally, President Kelley asked the House subcommittee to include language that would prohibit funding for the IRS’ private tax collection program as Congress has done in the previous two fiscal years. The IRS canceled the program last year amid fiscal and taxpayer privacy concerns but statutory authority for it still exists.

She also urged members to adopt language from the administration’s fiscal year 2011 budget request that extends a moratorium on new A-76 public-private job competitions for another year. The moratorium is in place for the current fiscal year.

“NTEU has long maintained that federal employees, when given the appropriate tools and resources, do the work of the federal government better and more efficiently that any private entity,” Kelley said. “We are hopeful that Congress and the administration can work together to reverse the past eight years of misguided pressures to outsource federal employee work.”

Finally, in light of recent events in Austin, Texas, President Kelley pledged to work with both Congress and the IRS to review security procedures in offices nationwide to ensure that employees are being adequately protected from dangerous individuals and situations.

“Unfortunately, attacks on the IRS and its employees remain all too common and this attack serves as a grim reminder of the great risk that the men and women of the IRS face each and every day in service of this country,” President Kelley said.

NTEU is the nation’s largest independent union of federal workers, representing 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments, including tens of thousands in the IRS.