(story)
Oddly, this seems to be perceived as a bad thing ...
Despite a massive budget which next year will finally pass the eleven-digit mark, the IRS cannot do the job for which it is designed.
In fact, some of its job it has apparently decided to just leave undone deliberately --at a cost of around $ 16.4 billion in revenue
(less than three-quarters of one percent of the federal budget, to put it in context.)
So, in an effort to get everyone to pay his "fair share" [sic] the idea of private debt collectors being retained is once again on the
table. The Treasury Department estimate that this will bring in a whopping $ 1.5 billion per year (approximately 0.07%, or seven percent
of one percent, of the federal budget) at the cost of giving private companies access to incredibly sensitive information (but this time it won't get leaked or abused in any way, seriously, we promise.) Ignore also the fact that the pilot program for this in 1997 was such a miserable failure that it was swept under the rug and virtually never mentioned again (especially not now that the idea is back on the
table, because this time -- seriously -- it will work, really really well.)
All of that, for virtually no benefit, for a projected amount of money that will not even offset the increases in the IRS budget over the
last few years. All so that every American will pay his "fair share."
Phaedrus
Oddly, this seems to be perceived as a bad thing ...
Despite a massive budget which next year will finally pass the eleven-digit mark, the IRS cannot do the job for which it is designed.
In fact, some of its job it has apparently decided to just leave undone deliberately --at a cost of around $ 16.4 billion in revenue
(less than three-quarters of one percent of the federal budget, to put it in context.)
So, in an effort to get everyone to pay his "fair share" [sic] the idea of private debt collectors being retained is once again on the
table. The Treasury Department estimate that this will bring in a whopping $ 1.5 billion per year (approximately 0.07%, or seven percent
of one percent, of the federal budget) at the cost of giving private companies access to incredibly sensitive information (but this time it won't get leaked or abused in any way, seriously, we promise.) Ignore also the fact that the pilot program for this in 1997 was such a miserable failure that it was swept under the rug and virtually never mentioned again (especially not now that the idea is back on the
table, because this time -- seriously -- it will work, really really well.)
All of that, for virtually no benefit, for a projected amount of money that will not even offset the increases in the IRS budget over the
last few years. All so that every American will pay his "fair share."
Phaedrus
