IRS PRIVATE DEBT COMPANIES

May 20, 2018 - Douglas Myser

IRS private debt companies. We started discussing the IRS using private debt companies back when George Bush Jr. was President. The Republican's wanted to outsource government functions to private industry to cut costs, but ultimately the idea didn't work out for some simple reasons. Now, many years later, forgetting the lessons of history, and especially why the idea didn't work before, some of the very Republicans who tried it before, are trying to do it again. If history is any guide, we know what will happen, again. IRS private debt companies.

Having taxpayers pay for IRS private debt companies may seem like a good idea, but two problems prevent the utilization of it from coming to fruition. First off, the taxpayer Bill Of Rights. Whenever a Tax Debt Collector goes after someone with a tax debt, they have to adhere to to the taxpayer Bill of Rights, but because the Private Debt Agencies are so aggressive, they simply don't.

When President Clinton was in office, after the first attempt at Private IRS debt collectors, horror stories hit the media, regarding taxpayers who were run over by Private IRS debt companies, who forgot that they had to adhere to the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, were then taken to court by those very same taxpayers, and in the end, Congress decided that the litigation costs were not worth the time and effort spent.

The second problem with this whole idea, is that the IRS is a perfectly good collection agency, by itself, but has never been funded adequately. For every dollar put into the IRS for Collection, they are bringing in nearly five dollars. Not a bad return, but when you politicians who are philosophically opposed to funding any form of government at all, it becomes a sticky issue.  IRS private debt companies is a good idea, but politics can sometimes get in the way, of even good ideas.  Private debt companies never offer the IRS Fresh Start Program as an alternative. Sounds like business as usual in Washington D.C., when IRS private debt companies that have failed in the past are given traction again, with no reform's.