�The IRS Is Out Of Control

Several years ago I read Unbridled Power: Inside the Secret Culture of the IRS by Shelley L. Davis. Published by HarperCollins, the book delineates the author's experience as a consultant brought in to review and assess the historical tax records in the IRS archives. As she slowly tackled the task of reviewing a monstrous depository, she became aware of the fact that the records documented a significant lack of management control over the bureaucratic hierarchy of the IRS. Of course, she reported her in-process findings to the upper echelons of the organization. And, long story short, as she found increasing evidence that there was (is) no effective management controls within the IRS, her access was restricted and then terminated. Shelley Davis never did complete her assigned job and, evidently, no action was taken to correct any of the deficiencies identified.

Recently, USA Today reported that the Treasury Department conducted an investigation focusing on Internet usage by IRS employees. Results indicate that:

"Internal Revenue Service employees using thousands of computers accessed prohibited Web sites that included personal e-mail, sexually explicit sites and games."

Additionally, they found that:

". . . IRS employees spent more than half their workday on the Internet for personal reasons."

Given this information, any elementary school graduate with common sense would conclude that at least half of the employees and half of the computers are not needed to conduct the governmental business of the IRS.

With the current IRS budget in the billions (around $10,000,000,000), it seems that a significant portion is unjustifiable if employees are working less than half the time.

My take is twofold. First off, this cannot be categorized as anything but theft. The management and workers are blatantly stealing taxpayer dollars. And I'll not buy the argument that management was unaware. Any manager would know when egregious sloughing off occurred. So they are complicit in the flagrant theft of public funds either by direct participation in the misuse of the Internet or by knowingly allowing their subordinates to do it. In any event, it doesn't appear that the IRS has enough work to keep all their employees busy all the time.

Secondly, this episode in the affairs of the IRS is only one of many examples of how the government pisses away money and is a primary reason that I oppose any tax increase and support all tax decreases.

Although an oversight board has been created, I'm not optimistic that any constructive changes will be implemented within the IRS.