This Is What The IRS Spends Your Money On

thenews 2013.06.04 18:17

Moments ago, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration, the same source as the crushing report exposing the IRS persecution of conservative groups, released a report highlighting the spending and "questionable expensing" by IRS staff who blew through $49 million across 225 conferences between 2010 and 2012. The source of the money was largely unused cash meant to hire more enforcement agents. Instead it was spent on things like the previously mentioned Star Trek parody, ad hoc drawn paintings of Abraham Lincoln and "motivational speakers" whose primary requirement is to be flown in first class.

Before getting into the details of just how the IRS spent the tax money it itself collected, here is the summary of the report:

In April 2012, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration received an allegation about an August 2010 Internal Revenue Service (IRS) conference held in Anaheim, California, (hereafter referred to as the Anaheim conference or the conference) that may have involved excessive spending. The Small Business/Self-Employed (SB/SE) Division held the conference, entitled "Leading into the Future," for its entire management staff. According to information provided by the IRS, this conference was provided to 2,609 employees at an estimated cost of approximately $4.1 million.

Where did the money come from:

According to SB/SE Division management, the SB/SE Division was allocated $132.7 million in the IRS's FY 2010 budget to hire 1,315 full-time employees.