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Great find by Ezra Klein. Despite the fact that its going to both increase costs and reduce revenues, Republicans are pushing forward with a plan to outsource to private firms the collection of overdue taxes. The facts:

Over 10 years, the companies hired are projected to collect overdue taxes totaling $1.4 billion, $330 million of which the companies keep as fees. According to the IRS' own estimates, over those same 10 years, the agency could collect $87 billion in unpaid taxes at a cost of just under $300 million — if allowed to hire sufficient personnel. In total, utilizing the private sector instead of augmenting IRS personnel would leave in the hands of delinquent taxpayers more than $85 billion owed to the federal government.

This policy only makes sense if you have one of two goals: discrediting government entirely, or using it to enrich yourself and your friends.