Instructional videos produced by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that spoofed “Star Trek” and “Gilligan’s Island” earned widespread mockery, and now Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) wants answers.
In a letter addressed to acting IRS commissioner Steven Miller and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, Baucus on Wednesday said he wants to know who came up with the idea for the videos and “what the plan is for ensuring taxpayer dollars won’t be wasted on another futile endeavor like this again.”
The IRS said the videos cost $60,000 combined but argued that they saved taxpayers $1.5 million that would have otherwise been used on in-person employee training. According to the IRS, the videos were shown in more than 400 locations nationwide. But the agency insisted that it’s instituted tougher standards to its video editing process since the spoofs were made in 2010.
Watch the “Star Trek” spoof:
Read the letter from Chairman Baucus:
March 27, 2013
The Honorable Jacob J. Lew The Honorable Steven T. Miller
Secretary of the Treasury Acting Commissioner
Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service
1500 Pennsylvania Ave. 1111 Constitution Ave.
Washington, DC 20003 Washington, DC 20224Dear Secretary Lew and Acting Commissioner Miller:
I am writing with great interest to learn why the IRS produced a Star Trek themed video and what steps the IRS has taken to prevent such wasteful government spending in the future.
According to a recent IRS statement, the IRS produced two of these parody videos starring IRS employees at a cost of $60,000 total for the two videos. The Star Trek video was made in 2010 for an IRS training and leadership conference. What is unclear, however, is how the IRS made the decision to produce the Star Trek video. Furthermore, according to one estimate, the IRS may have spent as much as $4 million last year through its production studio. As a tax administration agency, why does the IRS even have a production studio? And, does the studio in fact cost that much per year?
As you know, everyone in the federal government works for the benefit of hardworking taxpayers. We all have the duty to make sure that taxpayers’ hard earned money is spent wisely. I am not sure that any Montanan would think that the IRS’s Star Trek video meets that standard. Rather, as far as I can tell, they see the video as an example of government waste.
The IRS should be spending its budget helping taxpayers. For instance, last year only 68% of taxpayers who called the IRS’s helpline got through to a real person for the help they wanted, after waiting for an average of 17 minutes (GAO-13-156). I also want to note that the Taxpayer Assistance Center in Helena, MT, is now only open part time. Could the $60,000 have kept the Helena office open or hired someone to answer phones to help taxpayers sooner?
For the sake of transparency and accountability, I request a detailed explanation for why the IRS produced the Star Trek video and why it has a production studio that reportedly costs taxpayers $4 million a year. I also would like to know what steps, if any, the IRS has taken to make sure that this sort of thing does not happen again.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Max Baucus
Chairman
