IN late April, the nation was once again riveted by revelations of misconduct and maltreatment of citizens by the Internal Revenue Service. The second round of Senate Finance Committee hearings served only to buttress the already widely accepted notion that the agency is out of control. The question now is whether Congress will restrain the IRS with meaningful reform legislation. The early returns suggest the answer is no.
The Internal Revenue Restructuring and Reform Act passed by the House last fall and by the Senate in early May purports to restructure the IRS fundamentally and add two dozen “new taxpayers rights” to the law. At the core of the bill are provisions 1) creating a citizens’ panel known as the Internal Revenue Service Oversight Board and 2) shifting the burden of proof to the IRS. These are said to be the silver bullets that will end IRS abuse. They are more likely to be blank cartridges.
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