Fitzpatrick: IRS Spending Unacceptable, Offensive

Statement

Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick (PA-8) issued the following statement Tuesday in response to new watchdog reports that shows the Internal Revenue Service spent over $50 million on more than 200 employee conferences between 2010 and 2012:

"The latest report on the IRS does nothing to restore the confidence of the American people into the agency.

While the agency is responsible for collecting tax-payer's hard earned money, this report shows that the IRS spent millions of dollars on lavish conferences for employees and executives- many, well beyond the need of the organization.

In the wake of revelations that the agency had been targeting conservative groups simply based on their beliefs and political leanings, the IRS has become a disappointing example of the intrusiveness, and waste, of the federal government.

While the Treasury Department says it has taken "aggressive and dramatic action to reduce conference spending," and incoming IRS leadership have promised change, the open-wallet spending of government agencies is an affront to hard-working families around the nation who are being forced to make do with less during this economic recession.

I have written a letter to new IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel encouraging him to immediately make changes to the way the agency operates and make every assurance possible to the American people that the country's tax collectors can be good stewards of the public's money. I eagerly look forward to his response."

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