IRS awards bonuses to 1,100 who owe back taxes

[Dakota731]

In what way were tax dollars wasted?

Every cent an IRS worker makes is taxpayer dollars. It's ridiculous that bonuses are even given for a government job! There is no profit made to even warrant a bonus as with a private industry company. The IRS workers make great money with extremely wonderful benefits including a cushy pension plan so why should they get bonuses?

This office has way too power already when it can audit you based on who you vote for so to give them more responsibility and bonuses on top of it is truly outrageous. I'd love to see a national sales tax and have the entire IRS department dismantled. Think of the billions of tax dollars we would save then.

 

[Dakota731]

The Office of Personnel Management reported that as of September 2012, the average salary for a full-time, permanent, non-seasonal position with the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT was $78,467.

Don't think bonuses are need on top of that! Considering:

The national average wage index for 2012 is 44,321.67.

for regular non-government employee

 

[danygirl]

I suspect that the IRS jobs require degrees. Also if most jobs are in the DC area $78k isn't that much. And many of those employees have 20 or more years.

 

[timmac]

Based on the original article, the total bonuses paid vs number of employees who got a bonus pegs the average bonus award at something like $1400, not exactly a huge amount of money.

Comparing average government employee wage against national average income makes little sense, since it ignores locality and qualification level, as already pointed out. Also, we have no idea (based on what has been provided thus far) how IRS employees compare to the average government worker anyway.

The distinction that part of their annual pay is a bonus seems like a bit of a red herring. Would it be more acceptable if the pay scale was simply an $80k salary, rather than $78k with a possible $2k bonus? Having part of the compensation as a bonus could be retention-related, or other non-profit driven motivation, just as an example, not that it even matters really... total compensation is total compensation regardless of how it's broken down.

This whole story is a media frenzy that does a great job getting people stirred up about an agency we may not always like (who doesn't hate paying taxes?), but not much more.

With all of that said, suggestions about tax systems that are simpler or easier to manage, and the like, are perfectly valid and probably worthy of consideration and discussion (not specifically here however, as it ventures into prohibited topic territory)

 

[lovesmurfs]

I can explain it at least. The union contract says that performance bonuses can't be withheld for disciplinary reasons (and tax issues are a disciplinary issue when you work for the IRS) unless it "is necessary to protect the integrity of the Service."

I would say that making their own employees follow federal law and file their stinking taxes would be "necessary to protect the integrity of the Service."

 

[dominiondad]

Well, I might get beat up for this, but here goes.... (by the way, I am not, nor have ever been an IRS employee nor do I have any family or friends there).

I'm all for holding people accountable if they haven't paid their taxes. And I agree that a person who hasn't fullfilled their tax obligation shouldn't get anything "extra" from the government. But I don't think that rule should be applied to just a small portion (IRS employees) of the population. I think we should garnish the wages of any federal employee that is not making progress on tax payments. We should also not provide grants or contacts to any private organizations that aren't doing the same. Individuals who don't pay their taxes should not be able to pull building contracts, obtain licenses, receive social assistance, obtain permits, or receive any other benefit from the government until they have at least entered into a plan to address their tax obligation. In short, if the government is going to crack down on people not paying their share, great, but crack down on everybody.

 

[Dakota731]

And I'm curious as to what the bonus is for? Doing your job??? Wouldn't we all like that? I'm sure nurses or firefighters would appreciate a bonus as well. Not many companies out there give bonuses any more unless you are commission based like a stock broker etc. so this would be a great time to stop that practice - it's absurd to begin with.

 

[judydvc]

I am a nurse who works for the Federal Government ( VA). For a number of years there was a freeze on raises but we could get a merit bonus and they were not a lot of money.