The Internal Revenue Service released a report on conference spending by the tax agency from 2010-2012, highlighted by a $4.1 million gathering for 2,600 employees in Anaheim, California in 2010, which included thousands of dollars in swag for attendees, as well as luxury hotel rooms and free food.
The inspector general's report on IRS conference spending also included a full listing of every IRS conference, totaling over $48 million from 2010-2012.
The average cost for an IRS conference/event between 2010-2012 was $216,141.
The IRS spent $37.5 million in 2010 on conferences, $6.2 million in 2011 and $4.8 million in 2012.
Much of the report was dedicated to details about the most expensive conference, which was held in Anaheim, California in 2010. It spanned three hotels and included over 2,600 attendees.
Among the free items provided to IRS workers at that conference:
+ 2,804 “brief bags” with an imprinted logo were provided to all attendees at an estimated cost of $15,669. The logo on each bag included the caption “Leading into the Future,” the theme of the conference.
+ 2,800 hard-covered spiral journals with a conference logo imprinted on the front and the hotels’ and event planners’ logos on the inside cover. The IRS paid $2,449 for 505 journals, with an additional $13,064 paid by the hotels, the event planners, and the Anaheim Convention and Visitors Bureau.
+ 800 lanyards, 75 travel mugs, and 75 picture frames/clocks with the SB/SE Division logo, along with an unknown number of imprinted portfolios, sticky note pads, bookmarks, and retractable badge holders with a reported cost totaling approximately $19,210.
+ Various promotional items totaling approximately $27,000 were provided at the information corridor booths. These included items such as “engraved pens/badge holders, give-away items from Oriental Trading,16 promotional pens/printing poster/web cams, and imprinted can coolers/post-it notes.”
You can read the entire report at http://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/201310037fr.pdf
Among the speakers at the Anaheim conference - here's a partial list of the subjects covered:
+ How Do I Become a Great Leader?
+ The Manager's Role in Implementing Change
+ Making Telework Work
+ Root Canal or Public Speaking – I'll Take the Root Canal
+ Political Savvy: How Not to Shoot Yourself in the Foot
+ Ethical Fitness
The report says the IRS spent $135,350 just on speakers for the Anaheim Conference, with $27,000 going to someone who spoke on "The Medici Effect" and $17,000 for a speech on "The Art of Vision."
"How Do I Become a Great Leader" was worth a speaking fee of $8,917; $3,000 was spent for "Root Canal or Public Speaking?"
Here is the list of IRS conferences, the price tag, the number of attendees, and where the conference was held:
The Internal Revenue Service released a report on conference spending by the tax agency from 2010-2012, highlighted by a $4.1 million gathering for 2,600 employees in Anaheim, California in 2010, which included thousands of dollars in swag for attendees, as well as luxury hotel rooms and free food. The inspector ...
