Bills
| 3.23.22

Banning IRS Bonuses — Until the Agency Follows a Customer Service Strategy (H.R. 4890)

Do you support or oppose this bill?

What is H.R. 4890?

(Updated August 18, 2017)

This bill would prohibit the Dept. of the Treasury from paying a bonus, award, or similar cash payment to an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) until it develops and approves a comprehensive customer service strategy. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration would review and approve the strategy, then submit it to Congress.

The customer service strategy would be required to include:

  • Appropriate telephone and correspondence levels of service;

  • An assessment of which services the IRS can shift to self-service options;

  • Proposals to improve customer service over the short-term, the medium-term, and long-term.

Argument in favor

There’s no doubt that the IRS needs to improve its customer service, and its employees shouldn’t receive bonuses until a plan to better serve taxpayers is in effect.

Argument opposed

Imposing a ban on bonuses to IRS employees ultimately punishes individual employees and their families rather than causing the broad institutional changes this bill seeks.

Impact

Taxpayers; IRS employees; and the agency as a whole.

Cost of H.R. 4890

A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.

Additional Info

In-Depth: Sponsoring Rep. Pat Meehan (R-PA) introduced this bill to prevent the IRS from continuing to pay out bonuses to its employees despite offering subpar customer service to taxpayers:

“The IRS has shown that it will prioritize bonuses over assisting taxpayers. This legislation would bring accountability to the process by requiring the IRS to complete a customer service strategy before paying out any more bonuses.”

The House Ways and Means Committee passed this bill on a 24-15 vote along party lines.


Of Note: It was revealed during an investigation of the IRS for targeting taxpayers based on their political views that the agency had paid out nearly $6 million in bonuses between January 2010 and February 2015. Individual IRS employees — mostly executives and managers — received anywhere from $250 to over $285,000 during that period.


Media:

Summary by Eric Revell
(Photo Credit: Flickr user erix)