[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 117 (Monday, September 8, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H6999]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    THE IRS IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 1997

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Coyne] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. COYNE. Mr. Speaker, today, Congressmen Rangel, Matsui, Hoyer, 
Waxman, and I are introducing the Internal Revenue Service Improvement 
Act of 1997. This legislation will address the fundamental problem 
areas currently facing administration of the tax laws by the IRS.
  This legislation will codify recent actions taken by the 
administration to ensure effective oversight of the Internal Revenue 
Service by the Department of Treasury. The legislation also ensures 
effective use of the expertise of individuals from the private sector.
  The bill will allow the IRS to improve its customer service through 
more taxpayer-friendly IRS telephone assistance, clearer notices, 
quality reviews, taxpayer surveys, and increased access to the Taxpayer 
Advocate offices.
  The legislation will also provide the IRS with increased employee 
training and education, a reform that IRS employees have asked the 
Congress for so that they can better do their jobs.
  The bill will give the IRS Commissioner a 5-year term to run the 
agency which will result in continuity of management. The Commissioner 
would be given the authority to hire a top-notch IRS management team 
and be able to recruit and pay experts, as needed, throughout the 
agency. IRS employees would be able to work under performance-based and 
retention arrangements, and the IRS would be able to conduct 
demonstration projects to test the use of successful private-sector 
methods of efficiency and customer satisfaction.
  The bill will provide for the development of state-of-the-art 
technology at the IRS. The IRS would be allowed to better integrate its 
technology with strategic objectives, and develop intellectual capital. 
Electronic filing of tax returns would be promoted and streamlined to 
facilitate taxpayers' ability to file error-free, quick refund returns.
  Before any of this can be accomplished, however, governance, 
management, and oversight of the IRS must be improved.
  As a member of the National Commission on Restructuring the IRS, I 
opposed the Commission's recommendation to allow individual taxpayers 
from the private sector to have final decisionmaking authority over the 
operation of the IRS, including the appointment of the IRS 
Commissioner. I think that such an approach raises questions of 
accountability.
  Further, while the Commission proposed that its independent board 
would only be responsible for running the IRS, and would not have 
authority over tax policy, tax enforcement, or other taxpayer-sensitive 
areas, it is not clear to me that these issues can be adequately 
separated from its proposed role of managing the IRS.
  The administration has recognized that the IRS needs to be reformed, 
and is moving to address the problem with aggressive oversight headed 
by the Department of the Treasury. As an alternative to having the 
private sector run the IRS, the administration has proposed 
institutionalizing the Department of the Treasury's oversight of major 
strategic, personnel, and procurement decisions of the IRS with an 
Executive order creating an IRS Management Board, consisting of 
Treasury and other Federal officials. Also, the administration has 
proposed an IRS Advisory Board--consisting of private-sector experts--
to enhance oversight of the IRS through systematic analysis and advice 
to the Treasury Secretary on critical IRS matters. The administration 
currently is implementing this oversight management plan for the IRS.
  To further strengthen and make permanent this oversight initiative, I 
propose that the Congress enact, by statute, the administration's 
``Plan for IRS Governance.'' I think this would serve to 
institutionalize the management responsibilities of the 
administration's Oversight Management Board, and the role and functions 
to be performed by the private-sector advisory board. I encourage the 
Department of the Treasury to work closely with the Taxpayer Advocate, 
in overseeing the IRS. I also recommend that the Department of the 
Treasury be allowed to hire needed private-sector experts, on a full-
time basis, paid at competitive pay levels, to insure stable and 
effective oversight of the IRS. The administration wholeheartedly 
supported these views, which are reflected in the legislation.
  In conclusion, I want to state that I look forward to continuing to 
work with all Members of Congress to make the IRS the first-class 
Federal agency the public expects it to be.

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