Taxes are a pain. It is sad to see a percentage of our
hard-earned dollars siphoned off, even if it is to run the government. When those who do the siphoning get
huge bonuses for doing their job, it is a double dose of sadness. But when our
money goes for bonuses to IRS employees who have been disciplined, that is
outrageous. Then, to rub salt in the wound, the IRS actually pays bonuses to
those employees who cheat on or have not even paid their taxes! That is beyond
outrageous; it should be criminal.
No folks, I’m not delirious. This was the report of a March
2014 audit released by the TREASURY INSPECTOR GENERAL FOR TAX ADMINISTRATION, or TIGFTA. You can get the full report on-line at http://www.treasury.gov/tigta/auditreports/2014reports/201410007fr.pdf
.
“… between
October 1, 2010 and December 31, 2012, more than 2,800 employees with
recent substantiated conduct issues resulting in disciplinary action
received more than $2.8 million in
monetary awards, more than 27,000 hours in time-off awards, and 175 quality
step increases. Among these, more than 1,100 IRS employees with
substantiated Federal tax compliance problems
received more than $1 million in cash awards, more than 10,000 hours in
time-off awards, and 69 quality step increases within a year after the IRS
substantiated their tax compliance problem.” (Italics are mine.)
You read it right, 1100 IRS employees have either cheated on
their taxes or illegally paid no taxes. And they received a bonus! Imagine what
would happen if you or I did the same. I can assure you we would not get a
bonus check from the government.
According to the report, “For Fiscal Year 2011, the IRS awarded
almost $92 million in cash and almost 520,000 hours of time off to 70,500 of
its approximately 104,400 employees. For Fiscal Year 2012, the IRS awarded $86
million in cash and almost 490,000 hours of time off to 67,870 of its
approximately 98,000 employees. These awards are designed to recognize and
reward employees for their performance.”
Who actually receives these bonuses? “IRS employees may be
classified in five categories for the purpose of issuing awards: Senior
Executive Service (SES), bargaining unit, non–bargaining unit, management, and
Chief Counsel. … in FYs 2011 and 2012, bargaining unit employees received $63.5
million and $63.8 million in cash awards, respectively. The average value of an
award granted to a bargaining unit employee was $944, while the average was
$14,000 for SES employees who received awards.”
That’s right union employees were paid bonuses! I have to
wonder if this was part of the bargaining contract. I have never heard of
private sector union employees getting a bonus. It might exist, but it never
happened in any union I was forced to join, and no union member I know of has
ever received a bonus. But we pay every IRS union member an average of $944 a
year extra
just to reward him or her for his or her “performance.”
Apparently, we pay our employees (the IRS people are in
essence our employees) bonuses to squeeze us for more money, yet many of these
IRS agents can’t even do their own taxes right or have intentionally avoided
paying taxes altogether.
It sure makes me feel better about paying taxes. Maybe we
should get a bonus just for paying our taxes.
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