Democrats push to end private tax collections

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. House of Representatives panel on Wednesday moved to end a treasured Republican program that allows private debt collectors to pursue tax debts owed to the U.S. government.

The House Ways and Means Committee, on a mostly party line vote of 23-18, approved a bill ending the program enacted in 2004 by the then Republican-led Congress.

Democrats, who now control Congress, and unions opposed the program, saying it was a costly way to collect tax debts that could more efficiently be collected by IRS employees.

"The collection of taxes is a core government function," said Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat. "It is the Internal Revenue Service's mission. We found that, in addition to taxpayer harassment, this program wastes tax dollars by paying a bounty up to 24 percent to the debt collectors."

Republicans said the program has collected tens of millions of dollars in taxes that otherwise would not have been collected.

"We should be expanding this program, not ending it," said Rep. Jim McCrery of Louisiana, the top Republican on the tax writing panel.

The bill now goes to the full House for consideration.