Sunday, August 22, 1999
IRS' new softer side comes with some growing pains
More accurate, polite service is tough work
BY DEBORAH MATHIS
Gannett News Service
WASHINGTON — It has not taken to handing out lollipops and smiley face stickers, but the Internal Revenue Service is trying to shed its image as a bureaucratic ogre.
The Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 said the IRS had to clean up its act, mainly by giving more helpful service to taxpayers and relaxing its heavy hand of enforcement. The law comprises 71 new taxpayer rights, all of which were implemented in the first year.
“You had a gap between what the public expects and what this agency was able to give them,” said IRS Commissioner Charles O. Rossotti. “And the gap was getting bigger.”
More professional
Mr. Rossotti, a former business executive, took over the reins of the huge tax assessing and collection agency in November 1997 and soon began a shake-up, shuffling personnel and rewiring the institutional ethos.
“It's not so much that we need to be kinder and gentler, we just need to be professional,” Mr. Rossotti said in an interview. “Our research finds that about 3 percent of taxpayers believe it's OK to cheat, so the IRS has to maintain its criminal investigation division. But we don't need to treat the 97 percent of the people as if they were the 3 percent.”
He said taxpayers can expect quicker, more polite and more accurate service from IRS employees; more convenient office locations and hours; and a more cooperative, non-threatening agency.
In fact, the muscle in the 1998 reform law is a passage recognized and feared throughout the agency as Section 1203. It names 10 violations, such as harassment and threats, that can get a collector fired on the spot.
But the law is vague in its definitions of “the 10 deadly sins,” and the lack of clarity makes some employees nervous about crossing the fuzzy line between firmness and abuse.
“There's no way that you can have a lot of change without some confusion and anxiety,” Mr. Rossotti said. “We're trying to really do as much communicating internally as possible.”
Indeed, he is completing a series of videotaped messages to explain just what is expected of collectors.
Since its inception in 1952, the IRS has spread fear and dread among taxpayers, primarily because of its storied strong-arm enforcement.
Last year, Congress heard horror stories about ordinary citizens being hunted down by IRS agents who sometimes seized property and garnisheed wages. In dramatic fashion, current and former IRS agents also told Capitol Hill about abuses.
The Restructuring and Reform Act was born of congressional outrage and public demand in the wake of House and Senate hearings. Only eight House members and two senators voted against it.
Now, the computer system
“The next 18-24 months are critical,” Mr. Rossotti said in a July speech to the National Press Club. “We still will not have completed implementation of many of the changes we plan, but nevertheless it's likely that a consensus will form as to whether our modernization program is working or not.”
With structural and attitudinal changes under way, the big thorn in Mr. Rossotti's side these days is the antiquated IRS computer system — technology almost four decades old. Rather than spend its technology allotment on replacements and upgrades, the agency has had to use most of its capital budget on protections against the notorious if uncertain Y2K computer catastrophes.
But, over the next few years, the bulk of the agency's resources will go toward modernizing the equipment.
Even before the reform act passed, the IRS sensed growing public hostility and mistrust, so it started a kind of open house program at offices throughout the country. Once a month, taxpayers may come in and unload, whether their burden is a complaint or box of receipts.
“The guy may be due a refund, but he's been afraid to come in,” he said.
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