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Washington, D.C.—The head of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) today reiterated her strong objections—echoed by earlier criticisms from members of Congress and from within the agency itself—to an Internal Revenue Service plan to sharply cut back the important face-to-face and telephone assistance it offers the nation’s taxpayers.

“When this plan first came to light, I described it as incredibly short-sighted and foolish,” said NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley. “Now that the IRS has made public the list of taxpayer assistance centers it plans to close, I see no reason to change that opinion. The result of this unwise plan will be not only a sharp reduction in customer service, but also a decline in taxpayer compliance with the tax laws.”

The NTEU leader made her comments as the IRS released a list of 68 Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs) in 29 states it intends to close across the nation, with the loss of 434 jobs. The agency’s plan is to have the TACs closed by the Sept. 30, 2005, end of the current fiscal year.

President Kelley said NTEU is taking the case to Congress that this decision will have a serious adverse impact on constituent services in a large number of cities and towns—and warned that, given the IRS’s increasingly strong efforts to force taxpayers to the Internet for the tax-related services they need that the closings announced today “may be only the tip of a very large iceberg.”

At a joint committee hearing earlier this month, the Taxpayer Advocate, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and Chairman of the IRS Oversight Board each testified that the IRS has not adequately measured the serious impact the closings could have on taxpayers. In particular, Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson took issue with the IRS claim that there has been a decline in taxpayer visits to the centers. The IRS’s data are skewed since the agency has been steadily cutting back on the services offered at the TACs and failed to account for those taxpayers left waiting in lines, Olson explained.

Lawmakers responded with concerns of their own, including Rep. John W. Olver (D-MA), who requested more details on the TAC closings, and Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI) who worried that the IRS plan would leave the most vulnerable taxpayers with no other option than to use expensive tax preparers.

That was the second such hearing where oversight officials and lawmakers expressed reservations about the proposed closings. At last month’s Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on the IRS budget, Sen. Christopher Bond (R-MO) cautioned that the IRS must “balance customer service with its compliance and enforcement efforts.” And Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) pointed to an IRS survey showing that nearly two-thirds of taxpayers thought the agency should get more funding for taxpayer assistance efforts. “But it is precisely these types of services the IRS wants to cut,” she said.

In 2004, Kelley said, the IRS’s own numbers show that TACs served some 7.7 million taxpayers nationwide. TAC employees provide a wide range of tax-related services all year and not just during tax-filing season. In addition to handling account inquiries and answering tax law questions, these services include such important matters as tax preparation assistance for low-income people, seniors, and those who face language barriers.

Kelley repeated her call for sufficient IRS funding to meet both enforcement and customer service needs; the administration’s fiscal 2006 budget proposal for the IRS contains a cut of more than $134 million in customer service operations.

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