IRS faces new scrutiny for excessive spending on conferences

[alp227]

Source: Washington Post

The Internal Revenue Service spent an estimated $49 million on at least 220 conferences for employees over a three-year span beginning in fiscal 2010, according to a forthcoming report that will prompt fresh scrutiny of the already embattled agency.

The findings come as the Obama administration is overhauling the agency after officials said dozens of groups were inappropriately scrutinized as they sought tax-exempt status. The admission forced the resignation of the agency’s acting commissioner and has sparked criminal and congressional investigations.

Seeking to get ahead of the fresh controversy, acting IRS commissioner Daniel Werfel acknowledged the report in a statement late Friday, but he did not share any of the findings. He called the spending “an unfortunate vestige from a prior era” and said the agency has significantly curtailed conference spending in recent years.

The audit is set for release Tuesday and was prepared by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, the same entity that confirmed allegations against the agency’s tax-exempt unit. Details of the report were shared by several congressional aides, who were briefed on the report Friday.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/irs-faces-new-scrutiny-for-excessive-spending-on-conferences/2013/06/01/e1469324-cab2-11e2-9245-773c0123c027_singlePage.html

[NaturalHigh]

1. Unfortunately, power tends to breed arrogance.

[cheapdate]

2. That doesn't really seem like all that much money for 220 conferences.

Considering the training needs for an organization of that size, whose employees must stay abreast of complex regulations and interpretations that change every year, those figures don't seem facially "excessive" to me, nor does the need to come together in conferences seem extraordinary -- again for an organization the size of the IRS whose work is rather complex. The need for organizational consistency would seem to be rather high, and face-to-face seminars can be a superior way to achieve that.

If you assume 200 employees per seminar it works out to about $1,000 per employee. Quality professional training and development are very expensive. IRS officials, accountants, auditors, etc. are generally highly educated professionals. Again, the figure doesn't seem necessarily high to me, although the devil is in the details.

I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't expect those figures to be out of line with the training and seminar budget for a comparable, private concern (not that you could find a precisely comparable private concern -- but I'm thinking something like Exxon-Mobil).

[Posteritatis]

11. Yeah, I'd want to know how many of their staff are attending them

And also if they're actually the ones organizing any of the conferences. I've only been to a couple, and humanities conferences would certainly be cheaper, but it was still a couple hundred bucks to attend those.

It averages out to a little under a quarter million per conference in that case, so if it's a few hundred attendees each that starts making sense. If it's, say, a few dozen, then it's another issue.

[freedom fighter jh]

12. That was my first thought.

Add in that by the nature of its work, the IRS must have offices all over the country, so conference costs would include transportation, hotel, and per diem as well as the actual conferences, and $1000 per employee doesn't seem like much at all.

[former9thward]

16. This is 2013.

No need to transport and house people going to meetings around the country. Video conferencing gets rid of all that. The TV this morning has been playing IRS "training" videos that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars where IRS employees did line dancing, played characters on Gilligan's Island and Star Trek.

[freedom fighter jh]

18. Teleconferencing certainly is a good idea.

But you can't blame IRS for not being ahead of the rest of the government on this.

I write minutes for government meetings, and I can tell you that unnecessary travel just so that people can meet face to face is still very much in style in 2013. Even the minute writer gets flown around the country. A good thing? No. But why single out IRS?

[former9thward]

19. It is not a question of trying to single out the IRS.

You are right there is waste everywhere. But the answer to that can't be "everyone else does it". The IRS is in the news so start with them and make it an example for others. The reason most people don't care about the sequester is that they see stuff like this and assume government can cut back on the waste. I worked for state government for 14 years and I was disgusted by the waste I saw.

[freedom fighter jh]

23. Why start with the IRS?

Or, for that matter, with any particular agency?

I don't know that the executive branch of the federal government has a mandate to respond to the news media.

To make this change, President Obama could issue an executive order requiring travel orders to contain a justification that the travel's purpose cannot be carried out remotely, meaning online or by telephone. The same EO could require agencies to get their teleconferencing capabilities up to speed and to offer conference participants the opportunity to participate remotely. All this would cost a little money up front but would save much, much more very quickly. Budgets for next year have been cut drastically in Washington; managers are looking to save money wherever they can so that they can save their programs; therefore most would be open to it. There is no need to go agency by agency.

[dicksmc3]

24. Suggestion box

If you were so disgusted, why didn't you submit a suggestion. Every government including state government agencies has at least one of those in their office somewhere. Also, how much has Issa spent on all the investigations into these "SCANDALS"?? And how about Boner hiring a lawyer with OUR tax money to try and defeat Don't Ask Don't Tell?? Republicans are so two-faced it's pathetic!!

[former9thward]

25. I did.

When my manager and the department secretary moved on to other things I told them I could do their job and mine too. So they combined three full time jobs into one. I did all the duties without a thought. That type of waste is endemic in government. I don't believe taxpayers should support unneeded jobs. Government exists to do things not act as the employer of do nothing jobs.

Yes money is wasted on useless investigations but that does not excuse waste elsewhere.

[bloomington-lib]

3. I don't like the IRS as much as the next person, but I can see all the negative news about them

being used in the future to gut the agency, further weakening revenues for the public, and then everything that comes from that.

Seems like the usual formula. Create a scandal and get the public pissed at an area of the govt that stands in the way of private profit, then shut that public service down.

[siligut]

7. Yes, like clockwork

We really need to take the media back. As it is now it's like the RW's messenger pigeon.

[24601]

14. The big change I'd advocate is that the IRS needs to prove their case in court before

seizing assets. The presumption that they are right and the target of their action is wrong should not be allowed. If they need to freeze things, they can convince a court to approve a lien.

[Iliyah]

4. Issa and his gang of looneys

are over saturating these hearings fishing for something to tie the president with and all they are getting are ways to clean up the IRS and make them more efficient in tackling tax avoidance and with the Tea Brats lawsuits which will show that they are not a welfare group but all political kinda makes you wonder where they fuck are these conservative brains are.

The exposure only makes Issa and his goons like stupid. They look stupid subpoena records because of "talking points"? They look stupid asking questions and badgering Holder over leaks (which the GOPers requested).

Most Americans already have painted the GOP as the party of failure but we all know the corporate media never will admit that.

[Andy823]

5. Lets not forget

Once again it was the Bush appointee who was in charge during this time, and he has already stepped down. Will the republicans try and say that this was once again the presidents fault instead of the man running the IRS at the time?

As was already stated, republicans are doing all they can to dig up dirt to try and make the president responsible, and yet in the long run it will actually force even republicans into making needed changes in the IRS, and as stated already, the lawsuit by the tea party is doing to do them a hell of a lot more damage than they expect! When the facts come out and they have to produce documents, it will hit the fan big time.

[PatrynXX]

8. that was the problem with push

he cut taxes but was a massive spender.. Big ironic thing is. We are finding this stuff out because Obama is being transparent about it. Knock on wood. As for the Tea Party groups, I have a feeling they'll be regretting doing this dumb trick. If the IRS is forced to follow exclusively like they should bye bye crossroads. and many other tea party groups. NAACP I can't see getting nixed. They accept and listen to both sides.

[deurbano]

13. And why limit "oversight" to that three-year plan?

How about the previous three-year plan, etc.?

<<Seeking to get ahead of the fresh controversy, acting IRS commissioner Daniel Werfel acknowledged the report in a statement late Friday, but he did not share any of the findings. He called the spending “an unfortunate vestige from a prior era” and said the agency has significantly curtailed conference spending in recent years.>>

How long was that "prior era"?

Also, Bush's appointee was approved by “unanimous consent” in the Senate (March, 2008) when it consisted of 49 Democrats, 49 Republicans and 2 Independents (Sanders and Liebermann). So, ALL the Republicans in the Senate (at the time) also signed off on him.

[Rozlee]

6. And the billions of dollars that went missing in Iraq are no scandal at all.

Selective outrage is par for the course these days.

[PatrynXX]

9. not just missing but spent on things Iraq will never use

like massive swimming pools X_X

[MannyGoldstein]

10. Outrageous! Outrageous! Outrageous!

Quick, fire someone who had nothing to do with it!

And Holder needs to start a criminal investigation NOW NOW NOW!!!

[premium]

15. Ladies and Gentleman,

your tax dollars at work, and I literally mean, your tax dollars at work.

[BlueJazz]

17. We need to start investigating what Corporations spend on conferences.

Oh..You're talking about a large group of people that influence the running of the United States of America, Plus get lots of our tax dollars ??



So am I

[arely staircase]

20. while i realize the rw anti-govenment sentiment behind much of this

anyone who has had to sit through bullshit HR teambuilding/training sessions is enjoying the hell out of it.

[ThoughtCriminal]

21. "an unfortunate vestige from a prior era"

Which is another way of saying "Bush Administration"

[Nye Bevan]

22. I simply do not understand why the IRS needs *any* conferences.

They can put together online courses to train employees.