Thomas the Tank: The IRS came under fire for spending money on toys, like Thomas the Tank rubber wristbands.
The IRS is under fire for spending big money on the likes of office furniture, toys and public relations surveys, while simultaneously complaining of its lack of funding and inability to hire enough people to pick up the phones and answer taxpayer questions.
Senate Finance Committee chairman Orrin Hatch sent a scathing letter to IRS commissioner John Koskinen, asking about the expenditures. Among his concerns: The agency spent more than $8,000 on a stair climber; $4.3 million on “market research” and “public opinion” polls; and thousands of dollars on “decorative and give-away items,” like stuffed animals, toy footballs and “kazoos, bathtub toy boats and Thomas the Tank Engine rubber wristbands,” his letter stated, Accounting Today reported.
The agency reportedly spent another $4 million on furniture for its offices.
Hatch wrote: “Since your agency continues to have problems prioritizing the use of its budget, which has been reduced in recent years after historic growth late in the last decade, I write to offer some courtesy suggestions on spending that might be curtailed. … I hope this is helpful in identifying additional areas of wasteful spending that might be better redirected elsewhere, such as helping taxpayers file their taxes.”
A spokesman for the IRS responded to Hatch’s concerns with a letter of defense.
“It’s important to note that our furniture purchases last year were essential in our efforts to combine and reduce office space, leading to more than $15 million in space-reduction savings for taxpayers,” the agency said, Accounting Today reported.
The IRS also said it has stopped buying many decorative items, having determined “years ago these not appropriate expenditures.”
Fox News reported the chance for getting an IRS agent on the phone to answer last-minute filing questions was less than 50 percent.
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