Is anyone remembering our past?
Back in April, the Senate Finance committee approved a services of business friendly tax breaks, expected to cost $85 Billion a year. To help pay for these tax breaks, one of the tactics was to employ private tax collectors.
Yes... any of us that have sat on the other side of a tax collectors desk, with their extreme power over debtors, must wonder what we in the private sector will be able to do to be more efficacious in debt collection, especially after the sweeping debt collection reform legislation that has significantly impacted out business.
The truth is that the Treasury Department already has the authority to use debt collectors but doesn't, for the simple reason, it doesn't work! The IRS has followed this path on two other occasions, and also failed - failed horribly.
Back in 1996, the pilot program resulted in $17Million loss to the IRS, great profits to the debt collectors, and la suites over the violation of the Fair Debt Collection Act.
With the massive sweeping reforms to tighten the FDCPA, how much more successful could this adventure be?
While anything to support the Tax Collection Industry at this stage would be a lifeline to those collection attorneys that are not adapting well to new legislation, the fact of the matter is, Tax information is among the most heavily protected information that the US government holds. Almost all of it protected from sharing with outside entities. We debt collectors cannot by law be given enough information to collect a debt.
The IRS with its immunity from FDCPA, manages to collect 62% more in back taxes than private collection agencies in past tests.
The real issue here is that the IRS has the ability to use strong arm tactics that would land debt collectors in jail. Solving a pure staffing and backlog past due debt collection effort by the IRS by hiring private collection attorneys, who do not have the tools at the IRS's disposal, nor frankly would we want them, is just not the right answer.
While the prospect of increasing the private debt collection industry, perhaps exponentially, is certainly appealing.. perhaps.. cleaning their own house, and training more collectors internally, given their success rate using draconian collection methods not available to the public, is a more rational exercise.
Who among us has the brevity to ignore the past due tax bill letter, as opposed to discarding dunning notices from the Tax Collection Attorneys.
Is it any surprise that the Tax Collection Agencies approved seem to be from the states that the two Senators that put forward the bill are from?
This Tax Collection Attorney will take the "watch and see" attitude.
Marcadis Singer, PA
5104 South Westshore Blvd.
Tampa, Florida 33611
info @ marcadislaw.com
(888) 547-1881
(813) 288-1881
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Ext. 247 Gil Singer
Ext. 240 Ralph Marcadis
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