NO WONDER OUR TAXES ARE SO HIGH: We have to pay for Government Worker's Addictions!
http://chblue.com/Article.asp?ID=1705
IRS workers use government computers to visit sex

sites, gamble

Wednesday, May 09, 2001

By LANCE GAY

Scripps Howard News Service

A sampling of Internal Revenue Service employees found that they used

about half their online time at work to visit sex sites, gamble, trade

stocks, participate in chat rooms and do other non-work-related

activity, the Treasury Department's inspector general said.

Pamela Gardiner, deputy inspector general for tax affairs, said her staff

looked at how more than 16,000 IRS employees were using their

computers over seven days during a period spanning several months.

Her staff found that employees spent 8,250 hours out of 16,275 hours

online - or about 51 percent of the time - doing personal business.

Almost 23 percent were using Internet chat rooms, 20 percent were

involved in looking up personal financial information and 7 percent were

shopping online. Others were found gambling or downloading

pornography, she said.

The IRS says it is imposing new work rules on how employees can use

the Internet as a result of the investigation, and has installed new

screening software aimed at keeping employees away from sex sites.

Deputy IRS Commissioner Bob Wenzel said he found the employees'

Internet use improper, and thanked the inspector general for bringing

the matter to his attention.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, says

he's not satisfied with the agency's response. He noted that during this

year's tax season, 37 percent of taxpayers calling the IRS for tax

information didn't get their calls answered. Those that did get a

response were given wrong answers 47 percent of the time.

"It's reasonable to expect a basic level of service from the IRS to

taxpayers," Grassley said. He questioned whether IRS employees were

letting taxpayer calls go unanswered because they are involved in

personal activities online. "Some IRS employees are clearly goofing

off," he said.

In a separate report, the IRS inspector general found that 47 percent of

82,000 e-mails coming into the IRS involved non-business matters.

Among the topics these e-mails covered were daily joke services, high

school reunion news, and information from a fan site devoted to a

popular rock singer.

On the Net: http://www.treas.gov/tigta/