Once the Service takes over payment processing, the state payment records will no longer be accurate, thus further eroding the possibility of obtaining local enforcement, even if the custodial parent later opted out of the IRS collection scheme. Of greater concern, however, is the idea that the IRS will be able to create a successful interface to 54 different state-based public assistance programs in order to disburse payments properly. The IRS would need to know which cases involve custodians who currently receive or formerly received public assistance, while also keeping track of how much support is assigned to the state, and what amounts remain due to the state for repayment of TANF grants. Assuming that these interfaces could be successfully built within a reasonable period, the IRS would still be hard pressed to understand the complicated circumstances surrounding the disbursement of support payments. One of the most difficult problems facing the child support system involves tracking children and their custodians.
Many children move from state to state, and from one custodian to another.
Parents will find themselves in a bureaucratic maze, negotiating information between two very distinct agencies, at different levels of government, in order to make sure that their payments are correctly handled. Even if H.R. 1488 did not fragment state child support systems, it does not appear that support enforcement would be a good fit for the IRS at this time. The Service is in the middle of its own reorganization and is seeking additional funds to hire new auditors. Passage of this bill would add one more extremely complicated function to an already over-burdened agency, one that Congress has been working hard to reform. The IRS would be required to recruit, hire and train thousands of additional employees, located in jurisdictions throughout the country, solely to enforce child support obligations, at the same time that it is trying to revise its image and practices.