Peters, Duggan Urge IRS to Halt Plan to Move Office from Detroit to Memphis

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Gary Peters and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan announced they met with Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner John Koskinen to urge the IRS to reconsider their plan to relocate 80 jobs from Detroit to Memphis. The IRS Detroit location is a Correspondence Production Services office used mainly for printing and mailing correspondence to taxpayers, which requires large printing equipment and loading docks. The IRS proposed moving the office to Memphis after the decision was made to convert the current location of the IRS facility to office space that can no longer accommodate industrial printing needs. In the meeting with Peters and Duggan, Commissioner Koskinen agreed to look at alternative locations in the Detroit area before moving forward with the proposal.

“I am pleased that the IRS is working with the Mayor and my colleagues in Congress to assess alternative locations for their office in Detroit, rather than hastily relocating it to another state and costing Southeast Michigan 80 jobs,” said Senator Peters. “The IRS should explore all options before forcing hard-working Michiganders to either leave their homes in Detroit or lose their jobs.”

"These 80 jobs represent a significant number of Detroiters who would be affected if those positions are relocated to another state,” said Mayor Duggan. We are glad the IRS has agreed to revisit its requirements for the facility it needs to house them. Detroit now has a real chance to keep these jobs in the city and allow these Detroiters to remain employed at a job they love." 

###