Obama Answers Union Questions But McCain Declines
Scared and nervous, they should be. Since the days of Reagan busting the unions, corporate America has stripped the American worker of their pride, outsourced jobs, diminished benefits/pensions and lobbied Congress on behalf of their bottom line. The result corporate profits up and the American dream down.
So, it’s no wonder the NTEU (National Treasury Employee Union), has endorsed Obama. NTEU represents not only Treasury employees, but also represents 31 federal agencies and departments. Recently, the NTEU sent five questions to Obama and McCain, and to no surprise McCain declined to answer. A prime example of the GOP’s constant disregard for working Americans, and their high regard for Corporate America with their sweetheart contracts.
The issues in the questionnaire not only effect federal employees, but all Americans as they relate to the outsourcing of IRS debt collection to private agencies. This, of course, was done by the GOP 108th Congress in their continuing effort to out source America, with complete disregard for the security of your personal information.
- The National Taxpayer Advocate, an independent voice within the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), has found serious new problems with the agency’s use of private tax collectors—including an issue that sharply undercuts the fundamental premise of the program.
- In a mid-year report to Congress, Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson—who has previously called for the program’s end—said the IRS is now giving to private tax collectors outstanding cases involving complex issues that IRS employees are currently working to resolve. Further, the report found that IRS costs are underreported and that the IRS’s own collection actions account for a significant portion of the revenues attributed to the private collection program
While many areas of the federal government have failed under the Bush administration, through lack of over sight, out sourcing and cronyism, federal employees continue to do their job in a hostile administration.
NTEU QUESTION:
3) In 2004, corporate tax legislation gave the IRS the authority to hire private collection agencies to collect federal income taxes. Private tax collectors are paid up to 25% of what they collect. Collecting taxes is a basic government function and should not be assigned to profit-making businesses. Outsourcing IRS tax collection carries an unacceptably large risk that taxpayer rights will be trampled and personal information
stolen. NTEU is working with allies in Congress to repeal the IRS’ authority to contract out collection. What are your views on using private collection companies to collect federal income taxes?
OBAMA ANSWER:
In recent years our government has contracted out too many government services, often at the cost of efficiency and quality and to the detriment of federal employees. We should be particularly concerned about the contracting out of something so essential to the functioning of our government as tax collection, with large risks for the violation of taxpayer privacy if the highest standards are not met.
This case in particular is troublesome because IRS Commissioner Everson has indicated that private debt collection firms may actually cost more to the government, and hence to American taxpayers, than hiring additional IRS staff. I would thus support efforts to repeal the authority of the IRS to use private debt collectors. I was happy to see that the Tax Collection Responsibility Act of 2007 was passed out of the House and will support it in the Senate. As President, I will use strict guidelines to determine if and when the contracting out of services by any agency is necessary.
McCain Answer: McCain declined to answer NTEU’s candidate questionnaire.
NTEU QUESTION:
4) Legislation enacted in the 108th Congress gave the Department of Homeland Security the right to waive many important employee protections, including meaningful collective bargaining rights, from the employees of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). NTEU seeks the reinstatement of the statutory right for employees to organize, bargain collectively and participate, through labor organizations of their own choosing, in decisions which affect them. NTEU also seeks to reinstate a fair due process system for employees of DHS to ensure that their rights are protected. Would you support reinstating these important safeguards for employees of DHS?
OBAMA ANSWER:
The Bush administration has aggressively sought to undermine the ability of federal workers to have a voice in the workplace. From the revoking of Executive Order 12933, which mandated Labor-Management partnerships in all federal agencies, to the revoking the right of DHS employees to bargain collectively, the Bush administration has consistently and forcefully made it clear that it does not think workers should have a substantive voice in the workplace.
Collective bargaining plays a vital role in giving workers a voice in the work they do. When workers have a voice, they are able to increase productivity and reduce costs. We know from an Office of Personnel Management report that when labor and management cooperate in the federal government, productivity increases and costs are cut. These actions by the Bush administration have only sought to aggravate labor-management relations, reducing worker productivity and increasing costs to American taxpayers.
McCain Answer: McCain declined to answer NTEU’s candidate questionnaire.
They Work for U.S.
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