As the IRS seeks a 7 percent budget increase, news that the agency has spent $96.5 million on office furniture under the Obama administration may not encourage Congress to loosen the purse strings.
The proposed $1.2 billion hike would increase the IRS budget from $11.29 billion for fiscal year 2014 to $12.48 billion for fiscal year 2015.
“The IRS continues its commitment to carrying out its responsibilities, providing quality service to taxpayers and preserving the public’s faith in our tax system, but the lack of sufficient funding in recent years has made it difficult to provide the kind of services American taxpayers deserve,” Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew testified before a House subcommittee last month.
The Washington Free Beacon reported earlier this week that its review of nearly 3,800 IRS contracts from fiscal years 2010 through 2014 showed the agency had spent $96 million refurbishing its offices around the country — more than what it spent on furniture during the entire eight years under President George W. Bush.
The purchases ranged from several millions to hundreds of thousands of dollars for each agency office. The Colorado office, for example, got $2.67 million for the “purchase of systems furniture” in 2011, and the Washington, D.C., office, received $2.6 million in “new system furniture/service.”
IRS employees in Haverhill, Mass., meanwhile, should be sitting more comfortably after the agency spent $618,881 on Phase II of a chair project that was completed in December 2012.
Michigan, which has six IRS offices, spent the most on furniture of all the states, the Free Beacon reported, while the top three contractors were Knoll, Herman Miller and Haworth International.
“Herman Miller has chairs that cost $1,209, and storage units that cost $1,749,” the newspaper reported. “Knoll’s chairs retail for $659.”
Treasury Secretary Lew told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, “While the IRS is working hard to provide the highest possible level of taxpayer service within its limited resources, its funding situation is causing taxpayers to face longer wait times on the phone, and it is taking longer to respond to taxpayer correspondence. A sustained deterioration in taxpayer service combined with reduced enforcement activity could create serious long-term risk for the U.S. tax system, which is based on voluntary compliance.”
National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson has reported that some 20 million calls to the IRS went unanswered during last fiscal year.
It’s not clear yet what, if any, political impact the furniture spending disclosures will have on Congress’ fiscal deliberations. But in June 2013, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held hearings after revealing the IRSspent about $50 million on 220 conferences for employees from 2010 to 2012.