Numerous major Grassley initiatives have been included in the most comprehensive legislative plan ever put forward to restructure the federal tax-collection agency. The overall proposal is sponsored by Finance Committee Chairman William Roth of Delaware. Roth formally unveiled his plan at a news conference this morning.
Grassley has been an outspoken proponent for dramatic reform. He said, "The IRS has earned its reputation for poor customer service. And aggressive oversight work during the last two years has proven that the IRS exploits its power and abuses hard-working, well-intending taxpayers. The aim of this reform effort is to establish an IRS that works for taxpayers, not against them. Its goal should be customer service, not customer abuse."
Beginning in 1996, Grassley was one of four members of Congress to serve on the National Commission on Restructuring the IRS. This bipartisan panel conducted a year-long audit of the IRS. Last summer, Grassley and the commission chairman, Sen. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, introduced an IRS reform bill based on their findings. Their proposal was the foundation for the restructuring bill presented today.
Many of the Grassley-sponsored items included in the Roth legislation were advanced formally by Grassley earlier this month when he introduced his Taxpayer Bill of Rights III and when he presented extensive and specific proposals in a written appeal to the Finance Committee chairman. Others were provisions for which Grassley won the chairman's approval in negotiations as a senior member of the Finance Committee.
"My goal is to put a check on IRS collection activities and to get the IRS off the backs of delinquent taxpayers who are making good faith efforts to resolve disputes. They would put limits on the IRS' ability to harass and abuse taxpayers. My provisions also would help educate taxpayers about their rights. This is very important. More often than not, the IRS takes advantage of the little guy by using his lack of knowledge about the process and about his rights against him. I want to help stop this kind of intimidation," Grassley said.
"Altogether, these sweeping reforms deserve prompt consideration by Congress and support from the President. In addition to acting on Chairman Roth's outstanding bill to restructure the IRS, Congress must commit itself to sustained and aggressive oversight of the agency," Grassley said.
The Finance Committee is scheduled to consider the Roth plan beginning next Tuesday. The House of Representatives passed a less comprehensive reform bill last fall. On March 6, Grassley wrote to Roth urging him to go beyond the House bill and seek more extensive reform of the IRS. Today, Grassley urged the House to revisit IRS reform and pass the Senate bill.
Grassley is a member of the Senate subcommittee charged with IRS oversight. He was the co-author in 1988 of the first-ever Taxpayer Bill of Rights and its sequel -- known as the TaxpayerBill of Rights II or T2 -- in 1996. Last year, he successfully urged President Bill Clinton to select an IRS commissioner with extensive experience in managing a large-scale business organization. This broke a long-standing tradition whereby tax lawyers had been in charge of the IRS.