Obama’s IRS Spends Nearly $100 Million on Office Furniture
The IRS has spent $96.5 million on office furniture under the Obama administration and is now claiming it has insufficient funding to adequately serve taxpayers.
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew testified before the House two weeks ago about the IRS’ need for additional funding for the upcoming fiscal year. The IRS is currently seeking an increase of $1.2 billion—a 7 percent raise over its FY 2014 $11.29 billion budget. It would bring the agency’s FY 2015 budget to $12.48 billion.A review of contracts by the Washington Free Beacon shows the IRS in the past five fiscal years has spent $96.5 million refurbishing IRS offices across the country. Those contracts include fiscal years 2010 through 2014.
That amount already exceeds what the agency spent during the entire eight years under President George W. Bush, fiscal years 2002 through 2009.
The purchases during the current administration show contracts are for various amounts. They range from several millions to hundreds of thousands of dollars for each agency office.
The first fiscal year budget for which President Obama was responsible was FY 2010 and it was a banner year—when the agency spent the most on new furniture. Records show $44.4 million was spent that year.
The Free Beacon found in a total of 3,777 contracts he IRS has purchased various types of furniture. The contracts include new chairs, showcases, partitions and shelving, and wood furniture.
A sampling from the volume of contracts includes the agency’s Lowell, Mass., office, which spent $5.04 million on showcases, partitions and shelving. The contract was signed in 2012 was completed on April 30, 2013.
The Philadelphia IRS office spent $2.8 million for “furniture systems.” That contract was signed in 2011 and the work was completed in 2012.
Other IRS offices also had multi-million dollar makeovers. A contract in 2011 shows the “purchase of systems furniture” in the amount of $2.67 million for the Colorado office. The Washington, D.C., office received $2.6 million in “new system furniture/service” and the work was completed in 2012.
Still another contract shows the Iowa office had a $1.08 million makeover. The contract did not detail the type of furniture purchased.
Michigan, which has six IRS offices, has spent the most on furniture of all the states during this time frame. Its contracts include $1.57 million in taxpayer funds spent for its Leeward office, and another $1.36 million on its Zeeland office.
While it is unclear what type of furniture was purchased for the IRS office in Jasper, Ind., records show two large purchases were completed just four months apart. One contract for $689,719 was completed in November 2010. Another contract for $805,515 was completed in March 2011.
Contracts also revealed that hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent solely on chairs for the IRS’ office in Haverhill, Mass. The contract shows $618,881 was spent on “Task Chairs Phase II.” That work was completed on Dec. 31, 2012. Due to the volume of contracts, the Free Beacon could not find the amount spent for Phase I of the task chairs project or if there were any additional phases after this second one.
Another contract shows the agency’s offices in Seattle and Austin received over $1.1 million in new furniture. One contract for $810,200 and another for $327,908 were both completed in February 2013.
The top three prime award contractors were Knoll, Herman Miller, and Haworth International. While some records did not give detailed information on the types of furniture purchased, the high-end retailers’ websites do give taxpayers a sampling of their products and costs.Herman Miller has chairs that cost $1,209, and storage units that cost $1,749. Knoll’s chairs retail for $659. Another company awarded several contracts claims on its website it partners with “best interior products manufacturers” in the industry.
In his testimony, Lew said, “The IRS continues its commitment to carrying out its responsibilities, providing quality service to taxpayers and preserving the public’s faith in our tax system, but the lack of sufficient funding in recent years has made it difficult to provide the kind of services American taxpayers deserve.” (article end)
Z: Let me start by say I know A LOT about office furniture because I had a business of high end commercial design for many years. This article didn't ring any bells with me because, while I thought spending any money on office furniture in the economic mess America's in right now was just plain stupid, the article doesn't say how much the stuff was needed nor does it say how many chairs or panel systems, just big numbers. SO, it wasn't till I got to the magic words HERMAN MILLER and KNOLL that I flipped out. They are two of THE highest end companies in the commercial design field. Ever. Gorgeous, absolutely the best, and very well made. But could we have bought our IRS rear ends chairs for $700 that were just as good? Heck, yes. Even less, but I don't want to sound too cheap and chairs where people sit all day need to be good chairs. Not $1200. Nor do 'storage units' have to cost $1749. Not even close, though the article says nothing about how big the unit is.
During every single recession, the interior design/furniture manufacturing businesses suffer. Big time. But not if it's government work! :-)??
WHAT?
Z
54 comments:
Z this furniture was expensive to be sure, but it's the first of its kind. The worlds first transparent furniture, the White House is being decorated with it now. We can't see his new clothes so why should we be able to see his throne?
CnC: Snerk...
Let them sit on prison industry made furniture. That used to be the rule.
Perhaps new furniture is needed for all those IRS hires required to administer certain aspects of ObamaCare? **snerk**
Nabbed for this Saturday's Nincompoopery Poll.
Updated version of the $600 toilet seats.
But ... don't you know these people are entitled to the very best?
ah yes they are one of the people..what a joke Z!..Have a great week my friend~!!:-)
Same reaction. Not a lot of useful info (was the last update in 1980 and springs poking out of furniture?). But the instant I saw Knoll and Herman Miller - wow! I would love to have the Florence Knoll sofa in my living room, but I don't quite have the $11,000 on hand just now.
Lots of profits to Pennsylvania and Michigan. Hmmm.
I don't know. This doesn't bother me nearly as much as 4.5 billion in "tax credits" fraud to illegals declaring 20 dependents or more....that all live in Mexico.
It has also been reported that IRS workers who haven't paid their taxes are receiving bonuses!!!
And, we wonder why the Govt. want's to tax miles everyone drives?
I call it constantly stealing our money!
I must have missed the class where they discussed how the IRS serves the people or did you mean screws?
In support of the good furniture, they have to sit on their ass all day waiting for their bonuses so they need comfort.
From Z of GeeeZ:
Baysider; I WILL someday soon have an Eames Chair no matter WHAT :-)
Pris, that sure got glossed over, huh?: Yup, the IRS giving bonuses to those not only having not paid their taxes but screwing conservatives, too!
Great comments, all...thanks.
This really bugged me.
You've all seen the hardcore furniture they have at your local DMV or Post Office...right?
But the IRS gets KNOLL and MILLER???? are you KIDDING MEEEE?
Their big fat derrieres have to be comfortable. Does the tea trolley (a.k.a. cocktail cart) come with it?
Silverlady
@Z:
"The IRS giving bonuses to those not only having not paid their taxes..."
Well....how do we expect them to pay their taxes if they don't get that bonus????
/snark on
We have GOT to take better care of our bureaucrats, especially those that prey on our political organizations.
Silverlady said, " Does the tea trolley (a.k.a. cocktail cart) come with it?"
Capital idea! Now, we can not only make their asses comfortable while they shred the Constitution, we can buy them drinks with which to celebrate.
The IRS is still paying more than $10 billion a year in bogus payments to the poor under the Earned Income Tax Credit, the agency’s auditor said in a new report released Tuesday that says about a quarter of all payments are improper.
Despite a 2010 law requiring agencies to crack down on improper payments, the IRS is still deeply in arrears, the Treasury’s Inspector General for Tax Administration said.
In 2013, the agency paid out between $13.3 billion and $15.6 billion in bad payments, accounting for up to 26 percent of all EITC payments.
The IRS expenditure reminds me somewhat of the amount of money Nancy Pelosi owed the USAF for her liquor bill on-board Broomstick One. You remember how kind GWB was in allowing Pelosi to have her own G-5 aircraft. And she definitely took advantage of it. The trend is that these people “deserve” the finest things at “our expense,” even though most of the American people are hurting today thanks to the policies and programs of the “gifted elite.” I don’t know why we put up with it.
@Sam:
"And she definitely took advantage of it..."
As they all do in one way or the other. Were you aware that our masters are allowed to fly 1st Class on our dime, while our troops have to go coach and mostly on standby?
SO?? How do we STOP this abuse of our tax dollars?
By BLOGGING?
NOBODY NOTICES BECAUSE IT'S NOT IMPORTANT TO THE LIBERAL NEWS....THIS IS BEYOND WORDS.
No it's not beyond words.
Office furniture gets replaced and it the worst excess we have on he margins is that it was replaced with expensive furniture then we aren't in bad shape.
It went to its intended purpose.
It went directly into the economy and maintained a high monetary velocity.
Now, there may be some who feel this sort of thing raise there marginal tax rate and there isn't anything you can do to stop their howling at the moon.
The military does this all the time and no one says boo.
charter schools are publicly funded and committing outright fraud and everyone cheers them on.
But the outcry comes when the hated public employee sits in a decent chair. Herman Miller IS nice.
This was my business; you can get an excellent desk chair for $450.
And, if you buy the same chair for every IRS office across the country, you could probably get that very same chair for, gov't cost, $300.
We care about where tax dollars go; we care it's spent wisely and we are constantly complaining about over spending.
CI got it right. This is the latest incarnation of the overly expensive toilet seats.
If this is accurate, and it certainly rings true, as it has happened before across Admins, the question is why does it continue to happen.
Ducky, Z is right on this... I am sure quite a bit of $$$ would have made it into the economy by buying the needed chairs at a local Office Depot, Staples or even Costco.
Maybe not 100 million, but still quite a bit.
"Office Depot, Staples or even Costco..."
Yea...I'm surprised too....all the CEO's of these company's are big time dem donors too. But Staples was a Bain Capital ( Romney ) acquisition at one time which he turned into profitability. Which in turn merged with and pretty much swallowed up Office Depot.
They could have gone to China Mart though and gotten a good deal on cheapies made...where else?
Dave, no he is not right on this, unless you were able to decipher that second sentence and read something into it most of us don't.
No, he's not right.
And, by the way, Herman Miller and Knoll are American companies from whom profit goes into the economy, too.
NOBODY needs to buy $1200 desk chairs. This was my business. Trust me. Particularly if they were smart and bought the thousands of desk chairs at the same time from the same company. HUGE discounts for that.
Imp; you're right. Why not China? Now that Obama's in charge, China's slated to overtake us in six months. Why not hasten that? We're so lost by now with liberal nonsense that it's only a matter of sucking it up earlier than we'd hoped.
It might be different if these bozo's were actually doing something useful beside harassing conservatives....
The IRS is still paying more than $10 billion a year in bogus payments to the poor under the Earned Income Tax Credit, the agency’s auditor said in a new report released Tuesday that says about a quarter of all payments are improper.
Despite a 2010 law requiring agencies to crack down on improper payments, the IRS is still deeply in arrears, the Treasury’s Inspector General for Tax Administration said.
In 2013, the agency paid out between $13.3 billion and $15.6 billion in bad payments, accounting for up to 26 percent of all EITC payments.
I'd take 10% of their 10% of their 10% ya know.
--From Washingtontimes.com
@ IMP --- But Staples was a Bain Capital ( Romney ) acquisition at one time which he turned into profitability.
--------
BBBZZZZTTT. That's Beulah the Buzzer telling Imp to do his homework.
Bain Kapital helped underwrite the IPO but had nothing to do with growing Staples which was an established company when Bain ot involved.
Bain never did squat to turn Staples or any other company profitable.
Pris, "Federal "workers"" owe 3 billion in back taxes.
libtards just love that kinda stuff.
http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2012/08/29/staples-founder-why-im-supporting-romney
If only Americans realized how successful Romney was at many things financial, including Staples. PERHAPS we'd not be in this mess now?
Oh, but maybe many people wouldn't be getting free Obama phones or free mortgages for a year, etc. Ya, we can't put America before those who might vote for the hand-out party, can we.
Kid.. ... what becomes obvious is that liberal Americans put themselves before the good of their country. I can't think of a situation where that isn't true, come to think of it.
We Republicans want badly to help as much as we can, but put America first and understand that grown-ups can't be giving candy to everyone.
Wait till my post tomorrow; I'll be eager for all your responses on this subject.
dave miller. Why does it continue to happen?
Well.. (as Ronald Reagan would say)...
Because dumbass libtards like yourself consider the democrat party as something other than evil, self-serving, racist, black folk hating, sociopathic monsters from hell that smell like satans farts, and look like hairy reid and nana pelosi at a black hole wedding(Imagine that).
I say now. Get ya some capacity for Critical Thought. Get ya some compassion. Get ya some humanity. Get ya something other than that close up view of your colon you're constantly Looking At. There is more to life, and seriously, capacity for critical thought will make your life better.
That's as nice as I can be comrade.
Ducky said: "It went directly into the economy and maintained a high monetary velocity"
This is a common misconception. Yes, when the government spend money there is some economic stimulus. However, look at the other side of the equation. There is a great big vacuum cleaner called TAXES that removes that money from that same economy, having an anti-stimulus effect.
So, whatever economic stimulus results from government spending is partially cancelled by the negative effect of removing that same money from the economy.
Now, there is some overhead involved in all this economic sucking. That is the overhead is the cost of raising those taxes, and this includes how much it costs the economy to pay that money (CPA's, lawyers, Turbotax, etc.). Then there is a cost for the government to process the collection and disbursement of that money.
As you can see, Ducky, government spending may be necessary as are taxes, but make no assumption that it is all positive.
Z, libtards do Not care about anything but their own fill in the blank. But it's gotta be theirs.
They do not care about ANY THING else on the planet. other than if they think it might inconvenience Them at some time in the future.
They're for women's and gay rights correct?
Show me one of the bastards that has ever sounded off about the muslums. Easiest proof here for the taking.
Russia tells us to piss off..
"American astronauts depend on Russian rockets to get to the ISS, but after the U.S. imposed sanctions – which deny export licenses for high-tech items that could aid Russia’s military -- Rogozin offered up a different idea.
"I propose that the United States delivers its astronauts to the ISS with the help of a trampoline."
Good move Obungler....unintended consequences as usual for the amateur 'cic".
@Duck:
He did indeed turn that company around.
Bob, I'm afraid you're not up with current common core math.
Courtesy of the dust bunnies for brains nana pelosi...
"Economists agree that unemployment benefits remain one of the best ways to grow the economy in a very immediate way. It immediately injects demand into our markets and increases employment. For every dollar spent on unemployment benefits, the economy grows by, according to one estimate, $1.52; by others, $2. So somewhere in that range, but much more than is spent on it," Pelosi said.
ahahahaaa
PS- libtards LOVE that stuff
PPS, there are 91 MILLION people of employment age not working, AND no looking.
libtards LOVE that stuff
@Bob:
Taxes in...expenditures out.
That's income re-distribution!
Or theft.
Gonna have to do better than that, Imp.
If you can gather any documentation that Romney EVER turned a company around it would be fascinating.
I say he specialized in stripping pension funds, extracting kapital and leaving debt and shedding jobs.
Prove me wrong.
Ducky, Imp has no more need to prove anything to you than you have proven any of the allegations against Romney you're slobbering with glee over.
@Duck:
Not in the mood ducky. Fight with someone else.
@z
"Liberal Americans". Is that an oxymoron?
OT:
Just found this jewel. I'll call it..."Back on the Plantation uppity Negro".
Ed Jany, the Marine and former cop, national and state Democratic leaders hailed as an ideal candidate to take on newly elected U.S. Rep. David Jolly, R-Indian Shores, in Pinellas County’s Congressional District 13, is dropping out of the race.
The sudden and surprise announcement comes days after a Tampa Bay Times report about him seemingly padding his educational background and resume.
Jany entered the race at the last minute — after Democrats more or less threatened a prominent African-American minister to keep him out of the contest. In a statement Jany said he has realized he does not have the time to run for office..
Pinellas County’s Democratic chairman left a bluntly worded voicemail telling well-known St. Petersburg pastor Manuel Sykes he would be “persona non grata” if he followed through with plans to run for Congress.
Sykes was the only announced Democratic candidate in Pinellas County’s 13th Congressional District, but he said Wednesday he has now decided not to run after all.
In the voicemail, Mark Hanisee said party officials had spoken to the offices of two key Democrats, former congressional candidate Alex Sink and St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman.
“Neither one of them are endorsing you, nor is the (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee). They have another candidate,” Hanisee said. He added, “You better hold off, or, like I told you Sunday night, you are going to be persona non grata. Take that to the bank. That’s telling you the gospel truth. You’re going to be getting a call from Rick Kriseman, if you haven’t already, telling you to back off. Have a nice weekend.”
So inclusive...so tolerant...and so helpful to the blacks in that district that they'll chase the man out of the race....it doesn't say if they burned a cross at the man's home though.
"Before Staples opened its first office-supply store, the company's founder, Thomas G. Stemberg, went to Bain for help, says Ronald Kessler at Newsmax. Stemberg told Romney that companies were spending more on office supplies than they thought. Romney had his associates do a survey of office managers, then checked the figures against invoices, and found that Stemberg was right. "Romney agreed to put $600,000 of Bain Capital money into the new venture," and within a few years, he had made back eight times his money while contributing to the launch of a successful national company."
---
Newsmax, z, that well know Commie organ.
Romney never turned a company around and he is more interesting as an example of how the right is unwilling to relinquish their misconceptions under any circumstances.
Bain itself is a success
Romney should be eager to talk about Bain, says Ford O'Connell at U.S. News & World Report, and not just because of the firm's 80 percent success rate in driving up revenue at the companies it acquires.
Romney should be most proud of "his own success in building Bain Capital from scratch into a successful organization with a great reputation that met a significant payroll and provided a service on which the economy absolutely depends." Over 28 years, the firm has boosted income at the companies it backed by $105 billion, creating thousands upon thousands of jobs.
To attack Bain, you have to attack all of private equity, says Chris Stirewalt at Fox News. "Romney and Bain were widely seen as very good at what they did, not plunderers, but responsible corporate citizens."
http://tinyurl.com/84pwm33
Why are people talking about Romney? I find it much more interesting that the hildebeast needs at least a quart of fresh blood just to make it another week.
And how long has THIS been going on,
More succinctly..... ROMNEY ISN'T RUNNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!
hahahaaaaa..
PPS - I find it fascinating that some libtards have been able to shift their focus from BBUUSSHH ! to Romney !
heheh
Ducky, Man, if you don't think THAT was smart on Romney's part, I don't know quite what to say?
And, frankly, where's the old Ducky who, while saner minds were trying desperately to prevent the ACA from becoming law (and look what a nightmare it is today), kept standing up for ROMNEY and what he did for the Massachusetts health plan? :-)
Why ARE we talking about Romney, anyway??
By the way, there are conservative venues I don't respect. Newsmax is one of them.
'a great big vacuum cleaner called TAXES that removes that money from that same economy, having an anti-stimulus effect.' Bob, THAT is great imagery - priceless! Of course there is no 'stimulus' effect except to concentrate money where it buys votes.
And Ducky, 'The military does this all the time and no one says boo.' Really? Well .... BOO! Assuming you're talking about $600 hammers, many of us have been highly and loudly annoyed over this for years. Despite the explanation that the US govt syphons off part of that to fund black ops. I need more convincing.
If you're talking about apples to apples, I have a robustly experienced interiors friend like Z who will debate you on that topic. DOD FF&E (furnishing, fixtures and equipment) budgets run lean for their offices, but she has stories about other lavish federal civilian office expenditures like the subject of today's blog.
This has been going on a long time. It just especially stinks when the rest of the country is suffering so.
Kid was hot tonight! I guess Hillary is running about a quart low, anyway. Did Kid say,"blood"?
Also, to try to finish my point about phony government stimulus, all the money the government spends came out of someone else's pocket where it would have been either invested, or spent on commodities in the economy. The difference is that the private distribution of money is much more efficient and effective BY DEFINITION! Government siphons off a good bit just handling the money. Therefore, government produces nothing and is a drag on the economy. Period.
Duck,
How are charter schools committing fraud? Do you support a voucher system so every child has the same opportunity to a good education and schools and teachers should have to compete for excellence?
You have to look at how the government buys anything. Many of the items they purchase are older technology and design because it does not come from a contracted vendor. The spend the money or lose it advances waste and if you don't replace this widget you never use, you will not get another one.
Getting on a GSA contract is an arduous process but once you are on one cost or quality are not a determining factor in getting business.. We need to privatize procurement and incentive's efficiency and cost containment.
Bob, "I See Vampires" when I look at democrat politicians.
Not kidding.
Post a Comment