House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo) announced on January 25th that his tax-writing committee has created an online form for IRS personnel to tell the committee about “any inappropriate behavior or mishandling of taxpayer information at the agency,” according to the committee’s press release.
“Unfortunately, it has become clear that relying on the IRS to be forthcoming about its failures or outright abuses of taxpayer confidence is insufficient to ensure much needed, aggressive oversight of the agency,” Smith said in prepared remarks.
While the agency does not have a gleaming past, ever since IRS employee Lois Lerner publicly confessed to targeting certain nonprofits by threatening to rescind their tax status, and private taxpayer information was leaked to the press, there has been an outstanding question about whether the IRS can be trusted.
For Chairman Smith, it appears that the trust has been broken.
“The IRS has a disturbing track record of violating the trust of the American taxpayer – whether it’s leaking confidential taxpayer information, targeting Americans for their political beliefs, or just failing to perform its most basic customer service responsibilities,” he stated.
The new online form will allow IRS workers to submit information to the committee anonymously. Any taxpayer information will be protected from public view.
A link to the portal is here.
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