The Washington Post’s Lyndsey Layton and Christopher Lee provide a reason to be even more anxious about tax time. Since 2006, the Internal Revenue Service has relied on three private debt collection firms to collect $1 billion in unpaid taxes. But the firms have only recovered $49 million—slightly more than half of what the government paid for their services.

The firms appear to have sprung up in part because they donated heavily to President Bush and leaders in Congress. But they are also a symptom of a government that’s put a cap on hiring all federal employees, including IRS debt collectors.  Read Layton and Lee here.  MB

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