NTEU Criticizes Taxpayer Service Cuts Proposed in Budget

These include a proposed cut of more than $188 million -- or some 36 percent -- in what the agency is calling 'pre-filing taxpayer assistance and education,' along with the potential cut of some 2,500 jobs across a range of programs, including both customer service and enforcement, said President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU).

The numbers are contained in a document prepared by the Treasury Department entitled "Budget in Brief, FY 2007."

President Kelley criticized the continuing IRS efforts to reduce in-person help to taxpayers even as it recognizes the importance to compliance with the tax laws of such help. "Assisting the public to understand their tax reporting and payment obligations is the cornerstone of taxpayer compliance," the budget document says, "and is vital for maintaining public confidence in the tax system."

The document is short on specifics, but it clearly points to reductions in help for taxpayers, Kelley said. "It's an insult," she said, "that the IRS says it has a goal of improving customer service at the same time it proposes steps that would reduce this critical element in tax compliance."

She also was critical of the agency's continuing refusal to acknowledge the clear intent of Congress with respect to improving customer service. The IRS is taking a variety of steps to reduce personal help available to taxpayers and to force people to its Internet web site for the forms and assistance they need.

Late last year, Congress, prodded by NTEU, included language in legislation expressing its determination that customer service be improved by the IRS, not cut back. In particular, Congress prevented the IRS from cutting the hours that telephone tax help is available; earlier in the year, NTEU led a successful nationwide campaign to prevent the closing of Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs) around the country.

"This battle is far from over," President Kelley said. "NTEU will fight these foolish and counterproductive moves by the IRS." She added: The more the IRS tries to cut its customer service, the farther the agency goes down the wrong road."

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing some 150,000 employees in 30 agencies and departments, including 94,000 in the IRS.