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Senator says IRS employees are 'goofing off' on Web
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said Tuesday hundreds of IRS employees are spending hours surfing non-business-related Web sites and sending personal e-mail even as the agency's level of service to taxpayers remains lackluster and its productivity lags.
"Some IRS employees are clearly goofing off," Grassley said at an IRS oversight hearing mandated by a 1998 law overhauling the agency.
Grassley questioned IRS officials about two reports from the Treasury Department's inspector general for tax administration issued last November.
The reports found that IRS employee Internet use is "extensive," with slightly more than half of it for personal use.
Employees visited sites devoted to stock trading, chat rooms, sports, sexually explicit content and gambling. Grassley said the numbers equate to 238 employees a year doing nothing except surfing the Internet for personal use.
The reports also discovered "significant" personal use of e-mail.
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