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Washington, D.C.—At a telephone press briefing at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow, the leader of the union representing Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees and a member of the House Appropriations Committee will examine ways in which an IRS plan to privatize tax debt collections is both an inefficient use of taxpayer money and a danger to taxpayers’ private and sensitive information.

Separately, President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) refuted assertions today by the Association of Credit and Collections Professionals (ACA) that the IRS privatization plan is good for taxpayers and the country.

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” President Kelley said about the ACA statements opposing an amendment to the fiscal 2007 Transportation-Treasury Appropriations bill advanced by Rep. Steven Rothman (D-NJ) that would prevent the IRS from using any appropriated funds for the program in the coming fiscal year. The amendment was approved by the House committee last week. The bill is expected to be considered by the full House tomorrow.

President Kelley called ACA’s assertions about the IRS program “wildly off the mark.” Specifically, she said:

· ACA reliance on the record of private debt collectors at the Department of Education and in the states is “seriously misplaced,” Kelley said, since it skims over a litany of

problems with that program—such as the use of harassing and abusive tactics—as reported by the National Consumer Law Center and the firing of collection firms by the states of Ohio and Montana;

· ACA’s claim that the IRS program would be cost-effective is belied by the words of IRS Commissioner Mark Everson who “freely admitted” only two months ago under oath before a congressional committee that IRS employees could perform the work on a more cost-effective basis and by the IRS National Taxpayer Advocate who told the American Bar Association on May 6 that as the program is taking shape, it will be “vastly more expensive” than the agency ever imagined;

· The idea advanced by ACA that taxpayers will have increased customer satisfaction is “ludicrous,” President Kelley said, noting, first that the debt collection industry is the most complained-about in America and that such complaints to the Federal Trade Commission rose last year, and, second, that, in the context of the IRS privatization plan, the federal government has exempted itself from any liability for debt collector abuse of taxpayers;

· Further, ACA’s assertion that all work performed by debt collectors under this program must be conducted within the United States omits the fact that this language is contained only in the IRS’s Request for Quotation—it is not contained in the law; and

· Kelley also said ACA’s claim that the IRS would conduct a competitive bidding process in the selection of private collection agencies did not happen. Since cost was omitted from the bidding process, she said, there was no real chance for meaningful savings of taxpayer dollars.

“ACA members may well see a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow,” President Kelley said, “but for taxpayers, the light at the end of this tunnel is the flashlight being shined on their name, address, Social Security number and other pieces of personal information—making this program an open-ended invitation to identity theft and other problems for them.”

As the largest independent federal union, NTEU represents some 150,000 federal workers in 30 agencies and departments, including 90,000 in the IRS.