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Washington, D.C.—Across the country, in large cities and small, members and chapters of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) are leading a large grassroots effort that taps into the growing public opposition to a plan by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to cut back sharply on customer service for taxpayers.

The IRS plans to close, by Nov. 1 of this year, 68 walk-in Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs) around the country. Stopping that action is the focal point of the NTEU ‘No Taxpayer Left Behind’ campaign.

“NTEU members are determined to inform the public of the impact of this ill-conceived agency plan on them and the impact on the millions of people who rely on the services of IRS employees at the TACs every year,” said NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley.

Among the NTEU efforts are a growing number of rallies of NTEU members, and allied public interest groups, which oppose the IRS plan. To date, NTEU members have protested in Boston; in Albany, New York, and New York City; in Austin and Dallas, Texas; in Fresno, California; and in York, Pennsylvania. Some chapters are also conducting petition drives to provide signatures to members of Congress of those taxpayers opposed to the closures.

NTEU is also reaching out, and capturing, the support of local political leaders. NTEU has informed the governors of every state in which a TAC is slated to close and the mayors of all the impacted cities of the pending negative impact to their citizens of the IRS effort. Some city councils are considering local resolutions in opposition to the service cut.

The planned TAC closures are only part of a much larger IRS effort to restrict sharply the help that so many taxpayers depend on, Kelley said. In addition to the 68 TACs slated for closing, the agency has announced plans to close three of its telephone calls sites—in Boston, Chicago and Houston—and to cut back by 15 hours a week the time telephone assistance is available to taxpayers.

But NTEU members and the public aren’t the only ones questioning the IRS plan. Within the agency itself, both National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson and Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) J. Russell George have publicly raised questions about the wisdom and likely potential adverse impact of the plan, as has the public-private IRS Oversight Board.

What’s more, many members of Congress, on a bipartisan basis, have publicly questioned the plan and urged the agency to rethink its customer service cutbacks. Last week, the House Appropriations Committee included in its markup of the fiscal 2006 Transportation-Treasury funding bill language that would prohibit the IRS from closing any TACs until TIGTA studies the impact of such closings and reports to both the House and Senate.

The approved language also calls on the IRS to consult with stakeholders, including IRS employees, about the customer service moves.

Across the nation last year, nearly 7.7 million taxpayers received help from IRS employees at the TACs. A variety of advocacy groups, including representatives of individuals whose primary language is other than English, have criticized the IRS plans as well.

The IRS is seeking to justify the customer service cuts by pointing to what it says is the growing use of its Internet web site by taxpayers; President Kelley notes, however, that to the extent there is increased use of the web site, it flows as a natural result of pullbacks in customer service.

“You can’t force people to use the Internet by failing to provide service for them in other ways and then justify service cutbacks by saying more people are using the Internet,” she said.