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Washington, D.C.—“We will fight this!” said National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Colleen M. Kelley upon receiving notice from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of its reorganization plans that would place at risk jobs in 92 locations. “Most of the employees targeted by these actions are women and minorities who have probably worked for the IRS for most of their careers,” explained Kelley.

The IRS consolidation plans affect employees in three areas: case processing, insolvency operations, and the Memphis tax return processing operation. The IRS stated that the reason for the consolidations was to “create operational efficiencies.” However, Kelley argued that the IRS has not made a compelling business case for this decision. “It’s a bad decision for the Service and it’s a bad decision for taxpayers,” Kelley said. “It is a bad business decision.”

The IRS cites “a big increase in e-filing and corresponding drop in paper tax returns” as the reason for closing the Memphis Service Center. However, according to a report issued by the General Accounting Office (GAO) on May 20, 2003 (GAO-03-796T), the recent increase in electronic filing “represented the smallest percentage increase in the last 9 years.” In fact, the GAO said that, based on current growth rates, the IRS will only achieve about 61 percent of all individual returns submitted electronically by 2007, rather than its goal of 80 percent.

“It is premature to start talking about eliminating workers that taxpayers depend upon to process their tax payments and tax returns in a timely manner,” said Kelley. “We will take all necessary and appropriate steps to protect the rights of our members and the interests of American taxpayers.”

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing some 150,000 employees in 29 agencies and departments…more than 98,000 members are IRS employees.

For more information, visit the NTEU web site at www.nteu.org