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Washington, D.C.— Government officials and members of Congress once again voiced serious reservations about plans by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to close a substantial number of its walk-in Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs) during a joint committee hearing on the IRS budget and strategic plan held yesterday.

IRS Commissioner Mark Everson told the Joint Taxation Committee that the agency expects to announce the closure of approximately 70 out of the 400 TACs nationwide within the next two weeks, and has requested authority to offer early-outs and buy-outs for eligible employees.

NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley has been an outspoken critic of the plan, warning that it will result in reduced assistance to taxpayers who are trying to comply with the complex tax laws at a time when the nation’s tax gap continues to widen.

In testimony, Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson took issue with the IRS’s reasoning that fewer taxpayers are using the TACs. The data the IRS used in its “single-minded” decision is seriously flawed, Olson said. While the IRS claims that their data show a decline in TAC usage, Olson explained that the results are skewed since the agency has been steadily cutting back on the services offered at the centers and the agency only accounted for those taxpayers who made it through the doors, and not those left waiting in lines.

The IRS also claims that taxpayers can receive tax assistance through the IRS’s web site. Olson disputed this logic, cautioning that the IRS “overestimates taxpayers’ ability or willingness to conduct financial transactions in an electronic or self-service format. In today’s society, some are comfortable with banking online, many are not.”

Olson called on the IRS to conduct periodic taxpayer needs assessments before making decisions that could cause “irrevocable consequences” to taxpayers, such as closing TACs.

Also expressing reservations about the IRS plan was Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) J. Russell George, who expressed skepticism that the IRS has sufficient data to draw conclusions on the likelihood that taxpayers, who have used the centers in the past, will be able to use other methods of seeking help.

Raymond T. Wagner, Jr., chairman of the IRS Oversight Board, agreed that the IRS has not adequately measured the serious impact the closings could have on taxpayers and cautioned that the closures could result in further expanding the tax gap and threatening hard-won customer service improvements at the IRS.

“Theses proposed reductions in customer service are raising concerns throughout the tax community,” testified Wagner. “Until meaningful and substantive tax simplification is enacted into law, taxpayers will need all the help they can get.”

Lawmakers responded to the testimony with reservations of their own. Rep. John W. Olver (D-Mass.) requested more details on the TAC closings, while Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) worried that the IRS plan would leave the most vulnerable taxpayers—the elderly, minorities and low-income individuals—with no other option than to use expensive, and sometimes unscrupulous, tax preparers.

“It is incredible to me that members of Congress and oversight officials continue to voice their opposition to this attack on critical taxpayer services, and yet the IRS is moving forward at full steam with this unwise plan,” President Kelley said.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing some 150,000 employees in 30 agencies and departments, including some 98,000 in the IRS.