Bush's Harebrained Tax Collection Plan Worth Rejecting

With personal identity theft on the rise, it makes no sense to hand over 2.65 million taxpayer files to private debt collection companies. I am proud that my colleagues joined me in supporting my amendment, saying 'no' to President Bush's harebrained idea to create a new, privatized tax collection system. It would cost taxpayers more while protecting their personal financial information less. Currently, a system of checks and balances that has been refined over the years ensures that IRS employees protect taxpayers' private information. If we allow that information to be handed over to private collection agencies, we put taxpayers the mercy of these private, for-profit companies. That's not good enough for me or the people of this country.

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