Home Media Center News Releases

Washington, D.C.—The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) is working hard to remove two ill-conceived provisions from a highway-extension bill that the House is writing.

One would revive the failed experiment to outsource tax collection to private collection agencies, or PCAs, and the other would divert increases in Customs user fees to unrelated transportation projects.

NTEU strongly supports an amendment filed by Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and others to delete the PCA provision from the underlying bill.

Outsourcing tax collection work has been proven to be a waste of taxpayer dollars and it could unleash a fresh round of abuse on vulnerable taxpayers, NTEU National President Tony Reardon said.

In a letter to House Rules Committee members today, Reardon reminded them that efforts to use PCAs to collect federal taxes were scuttled twice in the past 20 years after the government lost money and taxpayers complained of strong-arm tactics by collection agencies.

According to the independent National Taxpayer Advocate’s report to Congress in 2013, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) collected about 62 percent more in back taxes than PCAs, Reardon wrote. A number of civil-rights groups like the NAACP and the National Council of La Raza and consumer-advocacy organizations like the National Consumer Law Center also oppose the PCA provision.

“NTEU believes that given the current economic climate, it is more important than ever that taxpayers deal with the IRS directly to work through any financial difficulties they may encounter. Unlike the PCAs, IRS employees have a variety of tools at their disposal with which they can help delinquent taxpayers meet their tax obligations, in particular, those facing financial difficulties,” President Reardon wrote.

He went on to say that the provision “is very close to being an earmark” because it would limit the Treasury Department’s discretion over which PCA to hire and by virtually guaranteeing that the contracts will be awarded to four private firms.

NTEU is also working hard to eliminate language in the House bill that would divert Customs user fee revenue away from the intended purpose of enhancing border security.

In a separate letter to the House Rules Committee, President Reardon urged members to support an amendment being offered by Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.). The Levin amendment would modify the provision indexing the user fees to inflation to ensure that the funds raised by indexing would go into the Customs User Fee Account.

“Diverting Customs user fees would eliminate a critical funding stream that should be available to fund the hiring of 2,700 additional CBP Officers currently needed to fulfill CBP’s national security, law enforcement and trade and travel facilitation missions,” he said. “These fees have been designated by statute to pay for services provided to the user, such as inspections for passenger and commercial vehicles.”

The provision to divert Customs user fees to unrelated highway projects also drew strong opposition from a number of travel and airline organizations.

NTEU, the nation’s largest independent federal-employee union, represents 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments.