There is an aspect of the latest
IRS scandalthat I find absurd:
IRS spokeswoman Michelle Eldridge said Sunday that spending on large agency conferences with 50 or more participants fell from $37.6 million in the 2010 budget year to $4.9 million in 2012.
I have no idea whether 220 conferences costing $50 million over 3 years is too much or too little as far as a budget to reasonably train the IRS staff to enforce a very complicated tax code. OK, there may have been a few excesses here and there but most tax directors will tell you that the IRS desperately needs to increase the abilities of their staff. And yet the politicians and even Ms. Eldridge are arguing that slashing the training budget is a sign of good management. Penny wise – pound foolish.
國稅局不再 訓練浪費
有一個方面的最新國稅局醜聞，我覺得荒謬：
美國國稅局發言人米歇爾·埃爾德里奇說，星期天，大型機構的會議，與50個或更多的參與者在2010年的預算年度從37600000美元下跌至2012年的490萬美元的支出。
我不知道220是否超過3年耗資50萬美元的會議太多或太少的預算盡可能合理地訓練國稅局的工作人員，執行一個非常複雜的稅務代碼。確定，有可能是一些過激，在這裡和那裡，但最稅收董事將告訴你，國稅局，迫切需要增加其工作人員的能力。但政治家甚至埃爾德里奇女士認為削減培訓預算是一個跡象，良好的管理。竹篙明智 - 因小失大。
The beleaguered agency gets slammed again for stupid practices, such as wasting $50 million on employee conferences.
Another day, another IRS scandal. This one involves the waste of taxpayers' money on employee conferences, to the tune of $50 million.
And yet again, the wasteful practices appear on video, showing a group of IRS employees practicing
The Cupid Shuffle at a 2010 managers conference in Anaheim, Calif., that reportedly cost $4 million. The workers, including one woman who had a cast on her ankle, certainly tried to get into the spirit of the occasion. Earlier, the IRS took heat over an equally stupid
Star Trek parody video.
According to an internal IRS watchdog, the tax agency spent about $50 million on more than 200 employee conferences from 2010 to 2012, which new IRS acting commissioner Danny Werfel denounced as inappropriate. That's an understatement.
Policy changes have led to an "87% drop in conference costs from fiscal 2010 to fiscal 2012," The Wall Street Journal says.
It's helpful to look at the bigger picture of why the IRS felt the need to waste money on "team-building" exercises like these videos.
Perhaps the agency's employees feel under siege. Under the best of times, working for the IRS won't win you many friends. Like many people, IRS employees haven't had raises in years, and like other government employees, they've had their share of
furlough days .
Plus, as Pulitzer Prize-winning tax journalist
David Cay Johnston recently noted, over the past decade, the agency's budget, adjusted for inflation and population growth, has plunged about 17%, while its workload has increased dramatically. Among its biggest challenges is dealing with the surge in requests from groups seeking tax-exempt status, which has deservedly gotten the agency into hot water for focusing particular scrutiny at conservative organizations making such requests.
What's especially disturbing about these videos is the planning that went into them. After all, they didn't produce themselves. Meetings were obviously held. Perhaps consultants were involved as well.
They're filled with inside jokes, and the "Star Trek" parody is chock-full of tax-related humor that perhaps only the most hardened of bureaucrats might find funny. Republicans, though, have found nothing humorous about these conferences, and neither should Democrats.
What gets lost in the media bashing of the IRS is how taxpayers are getting a raw deal from the agency. According to the National Taxpayer Advocate, which is an IRS office tasked with looking after the interests of consumers, the likelihood of people getting help with their tax questions from the agency is declining.
That's an issue the IRS might want to discuss before it starts another team-building event.
國稅局工作人員上舞蹈課 浪費納稅人的錢
陷入困境的機構被再次抨擊愚蠢的做法，如浪費了5000萬美元的員工會議。
另一天，另一個國稅局醜聞。這其中涉及的浪費納稅人的錢，對員工的會議，以5000萬美元的曲調。
又一次，出現浪費的做法視頻，顯示一組的國稅局員工在2010年經理人會議，據說耗資400萬美元在加利福尼亞州阿納海姆，練丘比特洗牌。工人，其中包括一名婦女誰鑄造了她的腳踝上，肯定試圖進入精神的場合。此前，國稅局熱量超過了一個同樣愚蠢的“星際迷航模仿視頻。
據國稅局內部看門狗，稅務機關花費約5000萬美元，在200多名員工會議上2010年至2012年，新的國稅局署理廉政專員丹尼Werfel譴責不合適。這是一個輕描淡寫。
政策變化導致“下降87％，從2010財年到2012財年的會議費用，”華爾街日報說。
國稅局為什麼覺得有必要浪費錢“團隊建設”演習像這些影片看的大局觀。
也許該機構的員工感覺受到圍攻。在最好的時候，國稅局工作不會為你贏得很多朋友。和許多人一樣，國稅局員工沒有加薪年，像其他政府僱員，他們已經有自己的份額休假天。
此外，普利策獎獲獎稅記者大衛島莊士敦最近指出，在過去的十年中，通貨膨脹和人口增長調整，機構的預算，已經跌至17％左右，而其工作量也急劇增加。其中最大的挑戰是處理激增的團體尋求免稅地位，已當之無愧地得到了該機構特別保守派組織作出這樣的請求審議熱水的要求。
尤其令人不安的有關這些視頻是走進他們的規劃。畢竟，他們沒有自己生產。會議明顯舉行。或許顧問參與。
他們充滿了裡面的笑話，“星際迷航”模仿是塞滿了與稅務有關的幽默，也許只有最頑固的官僚可能會覺得好笑。共和黨人，雖然沒有發現任何有關這些會議的幽默，也不應該民主黨。
什麼迷失在媒體上抨擊美國國稅局是如何納稅人得到了不公正的待遇，從機構。根據全國納稅人倡導，這是一個國稅局辦公室負責照顧消費者的利益，從機構與稅務問題的人得到幫助的可能性正在下降。
這是一個問題，國稅局可能要討論之前，它開始另一個團隊建設活動。
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The Internal Revenue Service is charged with collecting taxes from Americans in order to pay for the work of government.
But in a three-month investigation, ABCNEWS' Chris Wallace found the IRS is spending millions to recruit and sometimes relocate 34 managers hired to make the agency more efficient and effective.
"It's indefensible to the American taxpayer," said Paul Light, a top expert on government hiring.
When John Duder left a private-sector consulting firm to work for the Internal Revenue Service, for instance, he was allowed to spend up to $260,000 in relocation costs. Recruiting and moving Delena Bratton from California to her new job with the IRS in Washington, D.C. cost about $200,000 in tax dollars.
"When you consider the waste of money by the IRS, you would think that they're printing money rather than collecting the money," said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who launched an investigation when he found out about Duder's move. Grassley said his move to Washington after he was elected to Congress in 1974 cost $200.
'Critical Pay' Issues
The IRS spending spree started back in 1998, when Congress heard a litany of horror stories about the agency abusing taxpayers.
To clean it up, Congress agreed to let the new IRS commissioner Charles Rossotti hire up to 40 people from private industry, employees who could bring new ideas to the agency. To entice executives, they were to be given what's known as "critical pay" — big salaries and lavish benefits.
The IRS helped Duder sell his house in New Jersey and buy a new home near his new job in Atlanta. So far, his move has cost taxpayers $192,000; and Duder is allowed to spend as much as $68,000 more to cover relocation costs.
Experts said that's more than double the average cost for a corporate executive's move. And relocation expenses are just one of the problems.
Critical pay employees can make more than their peers at other agencies — up to as much as $186,000, a little more than the pay of Vice President Dick Cheney. IRS top cop Mark Matthews, for example, makes the top critical salary — more than FBI Director Robert Mueller or Attorney General John Ashcroft.
Light, who heads governmental studies for the Brookings Institution, said critical pay is a good idea for key jobs that demand special skills. But, "It has to be used very, very thoughtfully," he said. "It cannot be divvied up like the cards in a deck, as it appears to have been done at IRS."
Hiring People with Expertise
By law, people hired for these jobs must have "expertise of an extremely high level."
Grassley said lawmakers thought the critical pay would be used to lure computer wizards to modernize the agency. But Primetime has learned that two thirds of the hires have nothing to do with technology.
Bratton, for example, who was allowed to spend up to $200,000 for relocating, is a communications specialist.
"You can literally trip over P.R. people here in Washington, D.C.," said Pete Sepp, vice president of the national taxpayers union, which represents 335,000 Americans. "All taxpayers want to see out of the IRS is computers that work, phones that get answered, and yet they get P.R. people instead."
Sepp points out that despite promises to improve, the IRS lost 70,000 tax returns last summer. And, according to surveys, the IRS answers taxpayers questions incorrectly almost half the time.
IRS chief Rossotti makes no apologies, saying Bratton does much more than public relations.
調查：國稅局如何花錢
國稅局收取代收稅款，以支付政府工作的美國人。
但在3個月的調查，美國廣播公司新聞頻道的克里斯·華萊士發現國稅局花費數百萬美元招聘和有時搬遷聘請34名管理人員，使該機構更高效和有效。
“燈，”保羅說，這是站不住腳的，美國的納稅人對政府僱用的頂級專家。
當約翰Duder留下了私營部門的諮詢公司，為國稅局的工作，例如，他可以花費高達260,000元的搬遷成本。招募，從加利福尼亞到移動Delena布拉頓她的新工作與國稅局在華盛頓，DC的成本約20萬美元的納稅人的錢。
“當你考慮到由國稅局浪費錢，你會認為他們是印鈔票，而不是收錢，說：”參議員查爾斯·格拉斯利，R-愛荷華州，展開了調查，當他發現了關於Duder的舉動。格拉斯利說，他轉會到華盛頓後，他於1974年當選為國會議員耗資200。
“臨界收費問題
國稅局的消費熱潮開始早在1998年，當國會聽到了一連串的機構濫用納稅人的恐怖故事。
把它清理乾淨，國會同意讓新的國稅局局長查爾斯羅索蒂聘請了40人的民營企業，員工，誰可以帶來新的理念的機構。為了吸引高管，他們將被給予什麼被稱為“關鍵薪” - 大薪金及豪華福利。
國稅局幫助Duder賣掉他的房子在新澤西州和附近的新家買了他的新工作在亞特蘭大。到目前為止，他的舉動花費了納稅人192000美元;允許Duder花盡可能多的為$ 68,000多支付搬遷費用。
專家說，這是兩倍以上的平均成本為企業高管的舉動。和搬遷費用的問題之一。
關鍵薪酬員工可以賺更多的比同齡人在其他機構 - 多達186,000美元多一點的副總統迪克·切尼的薪酬。例如，IRS頂面警察馬克·馬修斯，使得最關鍵薪金的 - 超過美國聯邦調查局局長羅伯特·米勒或司法部長阿什克羅夫特。
輕，誰負責布魯金斯學會（Brookings Institution）的政府研究，說關鍵的薪酬是一個好主意，要求特殊技能的工作重點。但是，“它必須非常，非常若有所思，”他說。“ “不能被瓜分在甲板類似的卡，因為它似乎國稅局已經完成。”
聘請有專長的人
根據法律規定，聘請這些工作的人必須有“一個非常高的水平的專業知識。”
格拉斯利說，議員們認為關鍵的工資也被用來引誘計算機嚮導現代化的機構。但黃金時間已經了解到，聘用有三分之二與技術無關。
布拉頓，例如，誰可以花費高達20萬美元的搬遷，是一個通訊專家。
“你可以從字面上這裡絆倒公關人員在華盛頓特區，說：”副總裁皮特·布拉特，全國納稅人聯盟，它代表335,000名美國人。 “所有納稅人希望看到國稅局的電腦工作，得到答复，但他們得到的公關人員，而不是手機。”
布拉特指出，儘管承諾改善，國稅局去年夏天損失70,000納稅申報。而且，據調查顯示，不正確國稅局解答納稅人問題，幾乎有一半的時間。
國稅局首席羅索蒂沒有道歉，說布拉頓確實遠遠超過公關。
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