Time: Sat Dec 13 16:20:38 1997
To: ice@coolmedia.net
From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: SLS: Rubin 'disturbed' by IRS violations
Cc: 
Bcc: sls, friends, liberty lists
References: 

... about as seriously disturbed as he was
when the neighbor's dog relieved itself
on the recently polished chrome wire wheel
of Rubin's Porsche Carrera convertible.

/s/ Paul Mitchell,
Candidate for Congress
http://supremelaw.com





At 02:23 PM 12/13/97 +0000, you wrote:
>From:          Mike Moxley 
>Subject:       piml] Rubin `disturbed' by IRS violations
>
>Rubin `disturbed' by IRS violations
>
>Associated Press
>
>Angered by Internal Revenue Service practices that could have led to
>taxpayer mistreatment, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin promises strong
>action after an agency report found the use of enforcement quotas in the
>Arkansas-Oklahoma office.
>
>``I am seriously disturbed ... that an emphasis on statistical goals and
>expectations could have affected taxpayers' rights to fair treatment and
>employees' rights to a fair evaluation system,'' he said in a statement
>Friday.
>
>The IRS report was promised by agency officials in September as they
>endured searing criticism at Senate hearings. It found the
>Arkansas-Oklahoma office's practice of evaluating its agents by the
>seizures and levies they made was unfair to both taxpayers and the agents.
>It laid the blame for the policy on a ``service-wide climate.''
>
>``This is an unacceptable finding and one that demands strong action,'' Rub
>in said.
>
>The IRS, in a statement summarizing its report, found an ``over-emphasis on
>productivity'' and that ``the district's goals and performance expectations
>are focused heavily on specific statistical targets.''
>
>This ``may have caused some employees to make sometimes serious mistakes of
>judgment'' and ``take questionable actions,'' it said.
>
>Rubin did not specify what ``strong action'' would be taken, but he said
>steps announced last week by the new IRS commissioner, Charles O. Rossotti,
>were significant and ``an appropriate first response.''
>
>Rossotti, who took over the agency Nov. 13, announced interim rules
>requiring a senior-level review before agents seize taxpayers' cars, homes
>or other property for nonpayment of taxes. Last year, the agency made about
>10,000 seizures.
>
>The IRS had already stopped ranking its 33 districts by enforcement
>results. With Friday's report, it announced several other steps, including
>a requirement that an IRS taxpayer advocate review all cases in which a
>taxpayer says a seizure would result in hardship.
>
>After reviewing the report, Rossotti said he was ``especially troubled
>about the emphasis placed on improving collection statistics without an
>equal emphasis on customer service and safeguarding taxpayer rights.''
>
>The IRS has proved a major political headache for the Clinton
>administration this year. It first was forced in response to mismanagement
>to suspend the agency's massive project to modernize its computer system.
>
>Then, after initially resisting, it acquiesced to legislation that would
>create an 11-member board, mostly of private citizens, to oversee the
>tax-collection agency. The legislation, which also creates more than two
>dozen new taxpayer rights, cleared the House, 426-4, last month and is
>expected to come before the Senate next year.
>
>_________________________________________________________
>Michael Moxley               The Patriot Web Site:
>mmoxley@foto.infi.net      http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/6627/
>__________________________________________________________
>
>
>
      


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