Union-Sponsored Cartoon Attacks Collectors over IRS Debt Collection Outsourcing

By Patrick Lunsford, CollectionIndustry.com

The National Treasury Employees Union resorted to using cartoons yesterday in their fight to overturn the IRS' decision to use private collection agencies to collect past due taxes.

The union issued a press release Wednesday announcing the launch of a "consumer-oriented" web site designed to cast a negative light on the private debt collection program authorized by Congress and the President.

The site, www.nteuirswatch.org, features a cartoon on the home page depicting collectors as gruff-looking menaces. The character in the cartoon appears to be making a collection call at 3am. With a headline of "Private Sector Productions Presents: The Private Delinquent Tax Collector," the sketch seems to imply that all collectors engage in activity that is clearly in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The caption at the bottom of the cartoon reads: Don't Let this Horror Scene Come Anywhere Near You.

The battle over the IRS' decision to use private collectors has indeed heated up in the past few weeks. After the IRS announced in March the three collection agencies that would initially make calls on the tax collection agency's behalf, two collection firms that were not awarded contracts filed formal protests that have stalled the program's launch. IRS Commissioner Mark Everson was also quoted two weeks ago as saying the use of private collectors would be more expensive than hiring additional agents to do the job.

The National Treasury Employees Union, and its President Colleen M. Kelley, has been opposed to the IRS' use of private collectors from day one.