What? You think that’s crazy talk? You would if you have been following the debacle that is allowing private debt collectors to pursue the collection of taxes even though it is more expensive and is expected to collect fewer tax dollars. Government at its finest, no?
Concerns about privatizing tax collections have included privacy issues, the integrity of the collections agencies selected and the consequences of an incentive-based collections system. With this in mind, the Ways and Means Committee had a hearing to investigate whether the relatively short-lived system should be abolished.
They decided it should. On July 18, the Ways and Means Committee passed H.R. 3056, the Tax Collection Responsibility Act of 2007, which would repeal the use of private debt collection companies for purposes of collecting federal income taxes. The Committee approved the measure by a vote of 23 to 18. “The private debt collection program is an insult to the American taxpayer and our Federal tax system,” said Oversight Subcommittee Chairman John Lewis (D-GA).
The Act also includes provisions for, among other things, delaying the application of a 3% withholding requirement on businesses, increase the estimated payment requirements for large corporations and immediately taxing US citizens who renounce their citizenship (that’ll teach ’em!).
