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The Internal Revenue Service handed out $2.8 million in bonuses to employees with disciplinary issuesincluding more than $1 million to employees who didn't pay their federal taxes, a watchdog report says.
It's the Democratic way, pay the incompetent because if you fire these folks the next batch might be even worse. You give them bonuses to keep them from looking for work else where. Like most of these incompetent fools could find jobs in the private sector ....
It's the Democratic way, pay the incompetent because if you fire these folks the next batch might be even worse. You give them bonuses to keep them from looking for work else where. Like most of these incompetent fools could find jobs in the private sector ....
You and I both know that they're "entitled" to what you and I have. We're nothing but a bunch of cows to be milked dry.
Chaffetz has introduced a bill that would make failure to pay taxes a firing offense for federal workers, and although it "sailed through the House" at one time, the Senate never took it up. "In the 112th Congress, that's where we passed it out and sent it over to the Senate. Harry Reid -- one of my goals is I want to make him the Senate Minority Leader because he doesn't take up this common-sense stuff. In the 113th Congress, we brought that bill again to the floor of the House. This time it failed, because you had dozens of Democrats switch their votes and decide that no, we shouldn't fire them."
Chaffetz said the Democrats' argument is, "we shouldn't fire these people because if we fire them, then we won't be able to collect the taxes from them because they won't have the income. It's just drives me nuts. Chaffetz says his bill would exempt federal employees who are working with the IRS to pay their back taxes. "But if you are thumbing your nose at the taxpayers and say I'm not going to pay it, which are thousands of people by the way, then you should be fired and you should be prohibited from getting one of these lucrative federal jobs in the first place if you are delinquent on your federal taxes. "There are reasons why people get upside down with the IRS. If you are trying to make amends, hey, that's fine. But we have thousands of them that are just going to say nope, I'm not paying it. And they continue to make money off the federal taxpayers."
The Internal Revenue Service has paid more than $2.8 million in bonuses to employees with recent disciplinary problems, including $1 million to workers who owed back taxes, the Associated Press reported.
More than 2,800 workers got bonuses despite facing a disciplinary action in the previous year, including 1,150 who owed back taxes, said a report by J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration. The bonuses were awarded from October 2010 through December 2012. George's report said the bonus program doesn't violate federal regulations, but it's inconsistent with the IRS mission to enforce tax laws. The IRS said it has developed a new policy linking conduct and performance bonuses for executives and senior level employees.
Chaffetz: IRS Bonuses for Tax Scofflaws 'Just Sick' | CNS News
More than 2,800 workers got bonuses despite facing a disciplinary action in the previous year, including 1,150 who owed back taxes, said a report by J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration. The bonuses were awarded from October 2010 through December 2012. George's report said the bonus program doesn't violate federal regulations, but it's inconsistent with the IRS mission to enforce tax laws. "These awards are designed to recognize and reward IRS employees for a job well done, and that is appropriate, because the IRS should encourage good performance," George said. "However, while not prohibited, providing awards to employees who have been disciplined for failing to pay federal taxes appears to create a conflict with the IRS's charge of ensuring the integrity of the system of tax administration."
Other examples of misconduct by workers getting bonuses included misusing government credit cards for travel, drug use, violent threats and fraudulently claiming unemployment benefits. The IRS said it has developed a new policy linking conduct and performance bonuses for executives and senior level employees. "Even without a formal policy in place over the past four years, the IRS has not issued awards to any executives that were subject to a disciplinary action," the IRS said in a statement. "We are also considering a similar policy for the entire IRS workforce, which would be subject to negotiations with the National Treasury Employees Union."
The IRS had about 100,000 workers during the period under review. In the 2011 budget year, more than 70,000 IRS workers got cash bonuses totaling $92 million, the report said. In the 2012 budget year, nearly 68,000 workers got cash bonuses totaling $86 million. The report said the IRS considers prior conduct before awarding permanent pay increases. "However, IRS officials stated that the IRS generally does not consider conduct issues when administering other types of awards," the report said.
There are no government-wide policies on providing bonuses to employees with conduct issues, the report said. However, a 1998 law calls for removing IRS employees who are found to have intentionally committed certain acts of misconduct, including willful failure to pay federal taxes. Tax compliance at the IRS is generally better than at other federal agencies. In 2011, 3.2 percent of federal workers owed back taxes, according to IRS statistics. The Treasury Department, which includes the IRS, had the lowest delinquency rate, at 1.1 percent. The delinquency rate for the general public was 8.2 percent.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/irs-awards-bonuses-1100-employees-who-owe-back-taxes
