Starving government agencies can and often is penny wise and pound foolish. No more than in the matter of underfunding IRS auditing and collection abilities. The latest news is that the IRS is considering outsourcing collection. Not only does this pose the problem of submitting taxpayers to the same intimidation techniques that private collectors use on credit deadbeats (wasn’t it the Republicans who less than a decade ago made such a fuss about mistreated citizens?), but it also means that some of the funds will go toward the collector’s bottom line (the outside firms would keep up to 25 percent for themselves). If the question were a matter of increased efficiency, the loss of public funds to profit might matter less, but there’s no indication that’s the case. It’s just that fiscal tricks have to be used to keep current year budget in check in order to sell a tax cut. Add to that an anti-tax ideology and restricting IRS budgets seems like a good idea to some.
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