Senator Collins Questions Secretary Bessent on Maine Taxpayer Assistance Centers
Enlists Treasury’s help in cracking down on Maine illicit drug trade, money laundering
Q&A on Tax Assistance Centers in Maine
Click HERE to watch and HERE to download.
Q&A on Illegal Marijuana Grow Houses
Click HERE to watch and HERE to download.
Washington, D.C. – At a hearing to review the Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 budget request for the Department of Treasury, U.S. Senator Susan Collins, Chair of the Appropriations Committee, emphasized to Secretary Scott Bessent that seniors in rural Maine depend on Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs) and opposed the closure of two of these centers in Bangor and Augusta. Senator Collins, with members of the Maine delegation, sent a letter to Secretary Bessent in March requesting that the IRS reopen the centers.
Sen. Collins also asked Treasury to provide continued assistance to Maine’s sheriffs and law enforcement officials as they prosecute illegal marijuana grow houses with links to money laundering and transnational criminal organizations.
Q&A on Tax Assistance Centers in Maine
Sen. Collins: Mr. Secretary, welcome. You mentioned just now in your testimony the importance of customer service and your efforts to improve it. Along with other members of the Maine delegation, I sent you a letter last month opposing the closures of two Taxpayer Assistance Centers, one in Bangor, Maine, one in Augusta, Maine.
The Presque Isle center in northern Maine has already been closed for some time. These closures mean that someone from my hometown of Caribou, Maine, who needs in-person service faces a 10-hour-plus round trip to the nearest Taxpayer Assistance Center in Portland. That's the last remaining TAC in the entire State of Maine. That's just not reasonable, particularly when you consider that Maine has the oldest population by median age in the country. We have areas of the state where internet service is simply not available, and we have older adults who, even if it is available, may not have access to computers or to the skills that they need to use that method of getting help.
And I would also mention that I met recently with the Taxpayer Advocate in the State of Maine, and he too expressed his concerns about what the closures of these centers would mean in terms of providing customer service. Has the IRS evaluated what the impact of closing down all of these Taxpayer Assistance Centers, except the one in southern Maine, would be on people living in other parts of the state, particularly our older adults in rural areas?
Sec. Bessent: Senator, thank you for your leadership on this and the entire Maine delegation. I have instructed the IRS to look into this, and we will be getting back to you. System wide, only 10 centers were closed.
I believe that one of the centers that was closed was already unmanned. But we will get back to you and we will remedy this 10-hour problem. So, thank you for bringing it to our attention. We look forward to working with you.
Q&A on Illegal Marijuana Grow Houses
Sen. Collins: I want to bring up another persistent problem in the State of Maine, and that is, we have been the location for literally hundreds of illegal marijuana grow houses that are linked to transnational criminal organizations based in China. And we really need a whole of government approach.
Earlier this year, I secured language calling for a State Department-led report on PRC-linked criminal syndicates and the illicit drug trade. Where Treasury comes in, is there's money laundering involved, and I want to thank Treasury for providing some expertise through FinCEN, through the IRS, but it still remains a huge problem.
And our sheriffs in Maine have been terrific in trying to close down these grow houses, but we need more federal help. We've had some from Treasury, some from the Justice Department, DEA, but we're talking about over 200 of these illegal grow houses. And as I said, there is a link to money laundering and the fentanyl trade as well. Could you talk a bit about how the Department is working to address this dangerous operation?
Sec. Bessent: Yes, Senator, since you brought this to our attention last year, IRS criminal investigations and FinCEN are both involved in supporting local law enforcement and working with federal agencies to combat these problematic operations in Maine.
Staff from these teams, as you said, they have specialized financial, forensic, and intelligence expertise, and we want to help local law enforcement dismantle these money laundering operations. So, I look forward to ongoing dialogue, and, per your request, I will personally look into what is going on, especially with IRS criminal investigations, who are able to move on operations like this very quickly.
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