    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book II)]
    [October 10, 1997]
    [Pages 1338-1339]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1338]]

    Remarks on Internal Revenue Service Reform
    October 10, 1997

        Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Vice President, for your work. Mr.
    Secretary, thank you. Mr. Summers, Mr. Sperling, Commissioner, Mr.
    Tobias, members of the task force, employees of the IRS who are here
    today, and others who are concerned about this. And especially I thank
    the Members of Congress who are here who are supporting this endeavor
    and the others in Congress, including Senator Kerrey and Congressman
    Portman, who have shown such interest.
        Let me say, as someone who had not worked in Washington until I
    became President, I have spent most of my life talking to people who
    were on the receiving end of the IRS, for good or ill. And I took
    particular interest in the recent congressional hearings into the
    problems of IRS policy and some specific examples of taxpayer abuse.
    Like most Americans, I was genuinely angered by the stories of our
    citizens harassed and humiliated by what seemed to them to be an all-
    powerful, unaccountable, and often downright tone-deaf agency.
        And since I took office, as has already been said, our
    administration has worked hard to give the American people an IRS that
    is fairer, more efficient, easier for the public to understand and to
    deal with, with the electronic filing and filing by telephone, with the
    second Taxpayer Bill of Rights, with our efforts to reduce the conflict
    between the IRS and people's religious expression, just to name three
    examples.
        It is clear that we have more to do. The IRS should be above
    reproach. Americans who work hard and pay their taxes deserve to be
    treated fairly, and no one should ever have a home, a car, a livelihood
    threatened by unaccountable actions of Government. Abuse or bullying or
    callousness by officials of our Government are unacceptable whenever and
    wherever they occur. If they occur once, it's once too many. But
    especially in connection with the IRS, it is important that they be
    rooted out.
        Let me say that it's important, too, for the American people to know
    that the IRS is made up overwhelmingly of hard-working and dedicated
    people who put in long hours in public service. The vast majority of
    them do their jobs well, and the vast majority of them were just as
    outraged by the case studies profiled in the congressional hearings as
    other Americans were.
        It is clear that in spite of our best efforts in the past, there
    remain significant problems and challenges at the IRS. That's why last
    May the Vice President and the Secretary of the Treasury initiated their
    effort to deal with problems, many of which have been a long time in the
    making but which have to be addressed, and addressed now.
        Their initiatives will take significant steps toward ending abuses,
    protecting taxpayers, and making the IRS more customer-friendly. Their
    recommendations are strong and sound and I believe represent the right
    way to reform the IRS. I'm instructing that they be put into effect just
    as soon as possible, and I'm asking Congress to pass legislation where
    necessary to make them the law of the land. And again, I thank the
    Members here who have agreed to support that endeavor.
        Let me say, I can't go over all 200 recommendations, although I hope
    that most of them will be widely reported to the American people. But
    let me give you just a few. The package of reforms says to every
    taxpayer, first, you will have a tax collection agency that is
    reinvented so that it serves its customers and taxpayers every bit as
    well as the best private companies serve their customers. As the Vice
    President said, reinvention begins with a ban on the use of dollar goals
    to evaluate IRS employee performance, goals that can give some IRS
    agents the wrong incentives, just as parking ticket quotas can give
    police officers the wrong incentives. And the IRS will trim paperwork,
    increase hours, make sure that phones are answered, expand electronic
    filing, and move toward a systematic review of all taxpayer penalties.
        Second, you have rights as a taxpayer that will be protected. I'm
    calling on Congress to pass a new--the third--taxpayer bill of rights,
    to build on the law I signed last year. This will extend the refund
    period for taxpayers with health problems that keep them from seeking
    refunds in a timely fashion, it will protect innocent spouses from
    paying for the dishonesty of

    [[Page 1339]]

    a spouse or former spouse, and it will take other steps to expand
    taxpayer rights.
        Third, as a taxpayer you will have recourse when you believe you've
    been treated unfairly. We're greatly strengthening the taxpayer
    advocates, who already fight effectively for taxpayers in individual
    cases, by expanding their resources and giving them greater power to
    award taxpayers immediate relief. And we are creating new, independent,
    locally based citizen advocacy panels throughout the country. These
    independent watchdogs will be able to monitor how local IRS offices
    treat taxpayers, publicize problems, and help taxpayers to get relief. A
    taxpayer who has been treated unfairly should have somewhere to go,
    someone to fight on his or her side, someone to make the agency listen.
    With a stronger taxpayer advocate and these new citizen panels, they
    will have just that.
        Fourth, we will strengthen the governance and oversight of the IRS.
    The steps I have taken today are building on the reforms already put in
    place and described by Secretary Rubin. In order to strengthen public
    accountability, I am seeking legislation to establish a new IRS board of
    trustees with the majority of members from the private sector. This
    board will review IRS performance on customer service, strategic plans,
    performance measures, and citizen advisory panel recommendations to
    ensure that taxpayers do, in fact, receive the treatment we say they
    deserve. The board would report independently, and at least annually, to
    the Secretary, the President, and the Congress. It will provide the
    private sector input we need. All of this should help to assure that
    leaders of the executive branch fulfill their responsibility to the
    American people to effectively oversee and govern the IRS. It is the
    right way to reform the agency.
        In conclusion, let me say that I believe the attention given to this
    issue and the information made public by Congress has served the public
    and the public interest well. We have an opportunity to build on the
    reforms already put in place and to use this moment to extend them
    further, so that the IRS achieves its purposes and serves the public in
    the spirit of the best institutions, both public and private.
        I don't suppose anyone will ever enjoy paying their taxes, and the
    agency that collects taxes will undoubtedly never be the most popular
    part of our Government. But it's important work, and all the more
    important that it be done properly. If we act now, we can make sure that
    the IRS genuinely earns and deserves the trust of the American people,
    and we are determined to achieve that goal.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:57 a.m. in Room 450 of the Old Executive
    Office Building. In his remarks, he referred to Deputy Secretary of the
    Treasury Lawrence H. Summers; National Economic Adviser Gene Sperling;
    Acting Commissioner of Internal Revenue Michael P. Dolan; and Robert M.
    Tobias, president, National Treasury Employees Union.