By Doug Cunningham

The IRS is signing contracts with private debt collectors to pursue taxpayers who owe back taxes. Colleen Kelly, head of the National Treasury Employees Union representing tens of thousands of IRS workers, says this plan jeopardizes the privacy of taxpayers' personal information. Kelly says it's also far more expensive than collecting back taxes using IRS employees. The NTEU wants the IRS to drop the plan, but three private debt collectors are contracted now and the IRS wants to extend the program to 10 collection companies within two years.