The Internal Revenue Service said it has cut spending on training video production by 90 percent over last year’s expenses – while yet another silly parody is released.
The House Ways and Means Committee released the video modeled after Donald Trump’s TV show “The Apprentice.” The cost of to produce the video was $10,000, according to Government Executive website , prepared for a conference of the IRS’ Small Business/Self-Employed Division.
“Another day, another example of abuse and waste at the IRS, ” U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany Jr., R-La., chairman of the Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee, said in a statement. “Months ago, I demanded the IRS come clean about the time and money it spent to produce these frivolous videos. While we may have no answers, we do have an endless supply of what appears to be the IRS’ idea of entertainment. Whether it is wasteful conferences and videos or the inexcusable targeting of taxpayers based on their personal beliefs, there is nothing amusing about the American people footing the bill for this rogue and out-of-control agency.”
The IRS said in a statement that the video was made in 2011.
“[The video] is from a prior era and [does] not reflect the stringent policies IRS now has in place to ensure that all training videos are made at the lowest possible cost and with appropriate content,” the IRS statement said. “Simply put, this video would not be made at the IRS today.”
The IRS spent $ 2.2 million in fiscal 2012 on video costs , but have reduced that amount to an estimated $139,000 for fiscal 2013, the statement said, adding that “the use of videos provides critical taxpayer information and employee training, which helps the IRS save millions of dollars each year.”
Watch “ The Apprentice ” parody here:
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