IRS Spending Millions on Polling and Office Furniture as Tax Day Nears

Agency Blames Ills on Under Funding While Continuing Low-Priority Spending

WASHINGTON – Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) today sent a letter to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner John Koskinen asking for the agency to explain a number of questionable spending items as the deadline for hardworking taxpayers to file nears.

Hatch is asking for the IRS to explain why spending on the following items was necessary, as the agency continues to blame poor customer service and refund delays on underfunding:

1) $4.3 million spent on “market research” and “public opinion” polling;

2) Over $8,000 spent on a “fitness equipment stair climber;”

3) Thousands of dollars spent on “decorative and give-away items,” such as plush animals, toy footballs, and “kazoos, bathtub toy boats, and Thomas the Tank Engine rubber wristbands, for managers’ meetings.”; and

4) Nearly $4 million spent on office furniture.

Earlier this year, Hatch, along with all Senate Finance Committee Republicans, questioned other areas of wasteful and unnecessary spending at the agency including paying millions of dollars in bonuses and giving vacation hours to IRS employees who owe back taxes, as well as spending over $23 million to pay IRS employees to do union work on the job.

“Since your agency continues to have problems prioritizing the use of its budget, which has reduced slightly in recent years after historic growth late in the last decade, I write to offer some courtesy suggestions on spending that might be curtailed”…” I hope this is helpful in identifying additional areas of wasteful spending that might be better redirected elsewhere, such as helping taxpayers file their taxes,” Hatch wrote.

The text of the letter is below and a signed copy is available here.

April 14, 2015

The Honorable John Koskinen

Commissioner

Internal Revenue Service

1111 Constitution Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20224

Dear Commissioner Koskinen:

Earlier this year, my Republican Senate Finance Committee colleagues and I wrote to you concerning public threats you made regarding the 2015 tax filing season. These included refund delays and a potential shutdown of Internal Revenue Service operations. In light of those threats, my colleagues and I suggested various ways you might save money that could then be diverted toward taxpayer service and preventing identity theft. These included: 1) stop giving paid vacation days to employees with serious conduct issues, including those owing back taxes; 2) stop spending millions of dollars on organized labor activity, such as the $23 million and 500,000 working hours your agency devoted to organized labor activity in Fiscal Year 2013; and 3) spend less money and employee time trying to regulate the free speech of Americans through the forthcoming IRS political activity rules.

More recently, several news articles have detailed stories of IRS employees turning away those seeking help with their tax filings and hanging up on callers – something your agency bizarrely calls “courtesy disconnects.” Since your agency continues to have problems prioritizing the use of its budget, which has been reduced in recent years after historic growth late in the last decade, I write to offer some suggestions on spending that might be curtailed. This spending includes the following recent examples of wasted taxpayer dollars, which are listed on usaspending.gov or have been documented by the Inspector General:

5) $4.3 million spent on “market research” and “public opinion” polling last fiscal year;

6) Over $8,000 spent on a “fitness equipment stair climber,” which I assume is in a building with actual stairs;

7) Thousands of dollars spent on “decorative and give-away items,” such as plush animals, toy footballs, and “kazoos, bathtub toy boats, and Thomas the Tank Engine rubber wristbands, for managers’ meetings.”; and

8) Nearly $4 million spent on office furniture last fiscal year.

I hope this is helpful in identifying additional areas of wasteful spending that might be better redirected elsewhere, such as helping taxpayers file their taxes.

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