The tax agency spent about $49 million on 225 conferences from fiscal 2010 to 2012, including $4 million on the Anaheim, California meeting, said the inspector general report released today. In Anaheim, some IRS employees stayed in rooms typically costing as much as $3,500 a night, and the agency paid $135,350 to speakers, including $17,000 for a lecture by Erik Wahl on“The Art of Vision,” the report said.
The IRS contract said Wahl was “uniquely qualified”because of his “artistic abilities and his presentation skills,” the report said. “In each presentation, he will create a unique painting that reinforces his message of unlearning the rules, breaking the boundaries, and freeing the thought process to find creative solutions to challenges.”
The amount the IRS spent on conferences is adding to criticism of the agency, which is being investigated after disclosing that it gave extra scrutiny to small-government groups that sought tax-exempt status. The agency is under investigation by six congressional committees and the Justice Department on its review of those groups.
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform plans a June 6 hearing on the IRS spending.