identified that, quote, there have been countless published reports of hamp participants who end up worse off for having engaged in a futile effort to obtain sustainable relief that the program promised. failed modifications often leave borrowers with more principal outstanding on their loans, less on equity, depleted savings and worse credit scores, unquote. using provocative language that we have heard supporting your actions in the foreclosure crisis, i guess you could say that then-secretary, treasury secretary geithner was a, quote, predator loan modifier, unquote, using that type of logic. now, mr. mnuchin, did one west have any interplay with the obama administration s program, and was that program successful in preventing foreclosures on struggling american homeowners,
likely never be collected. adding up to $187 million in 2017. out of that $187 million, the treasury department has provided debt collectors to collect a net of $11 million. this is not due to the inactive tax debt available for the irs to assign. according to the government accountability report, the irs has over $130 billion of outstanding debt on its books. so ham stringing that program by refusing to release inactive debt for the program ought to be considered unacceptable by anybody. so can you give me assurances that the department of treasury under your leadership will work to implement the program to the
or could more have been done by the administration? senator, thank you very much for that question. that is a very important issue. when we did the indy mac deal with the fdic, we committed to the fdic that we would continue the fdic loan modification program. it was after that that the obama administration came up with hamp. and we had no obligation to do hamp. we could have continued to do fdic loan modifications. but we felt it was the appropriate thing to voluntary go into the u.s. treasury hamp program as were other major banks. so we voluntarily went into that program. the hamp loan modification program was a very redescriptive program, including us having to follow net present valuations to see which was better, either foreclosing on a home or
put in place transition rules for some alternative energy, including wind. the production tax credit is currently scheduled to phase out over the next few years, ending in 2020. based upon our conversation, i believe that we are in agreement that you would support the current phase-out as part of any tax reform proposal. question two, i ve been a strong proponent of the irs private debt collection program, as has senator schumer. in 2015, congress updated and made mandatory the irs private debt collection program. this program is designed to chip away at the tax gap by requiring the irs to contract with private debt collectors to collect inactive tax staff hold. these are the tax debts not being worked by the irs. and absent this program would
proceeds such as a penalties assessed for undisclosed foreign bank accounts. two questions, and i ll state them both. should you be confirmed, can i count on you to be supportive of the whistle blower program and work to ensure its success? and additionally, would you be willing to review the irs s administration of the program including its very narrow interpretation of the words collected proceeds ? absolutely, senator. you have my assurance. and let me further go on to say that the majority of americans voluntary file their tax returns honestly. but we are all aware there is tax fraud, and there is tax evasion, as you said, and we need to be diligent, and i believe the whistle blower laws are a part of that, i will work hard with you on that. senator stabenow. thank you very much,