-Caveat Lector- As you can see from the piece below the IRS has collected less money from "fraudulent" or "delinquent" taxpayers and they are claiming that this is creating a burden on the system. They also claim all the new laws which protect people from the fanatical, fascist, bullshit tactics of their agency are "hampering" their activities. What a load of swill. IRS Collections Actions Drop $1.3B .c The Associated Press By CURT ANDERSON WASHINGTON (AP) - The Internal Revenue Service collected $1.3 billion less over the past year through enforcement actions such as property seizures and liens, a trend top agency officials say must be stopped. ``We really don't want it to go down any more than it has,'' IRS Commissioner Charles Rossotti said in a recent interview. ``We're trying to keep the ship afloat.'' A combination of fewer agents and new laws giving taxpayers broad new rights has led to the reduction, which IRS officials say threatens to undermine the integrity of the tax system. IRS statistics on major enforcement actions - which included exact numbers only for fiscal 1999 - show: There were 504,403 levies on delinquent taxpayers' bank accounts and wages in fiscal 1999, which ended Sept. 30. That compares with 2.5 million in 1998 and 3.1 million in 1997. IRS property seizures, which totaled 10,000 in fiscal 1997, declined to 2,300 in 1998 and to only 161 in 1999. Property liens fell from 544,000 two years ago to 167,867 in 1999. Money collected from these major delinquent cases amounted to $6.5 billion in 1999, down from $7.8 billion in 1998 and $8.7 billion in 1997. IRS officials stressed that overall enforcement collections dropped just 2.5 percent from 1998 to 1999 - from nearly $30 billion to $29.2 billion - as the agency improved compliance through mailed notices and other efforts to collect tardy taxes. Even though the major actions represent only a fraction of the $1.8 trillion in taxes the IRS collected in 1999, there is concern that more erosion could entice more people to cheat. ``What we want to achieve is maximum compliance,'' Rossotti said. ``Everybody should want that, if they're an honest taxpayer, because it means nobody is getting away with something.'' As of October 1998, the congressional General Accounting Office estimated there was $222 billion in unpaid taxes outstanding; about $119 billion was likely to be written off as not collectible. One reason for the enforcement decline is a steady reduction of 15,000 IRS employees over the past few years and the temporary shift of some collections agents to other duties, such as answering taxpayer telephone queries. But of equal importance is the IRS overhaul law passed by Congress in 1998. The law shifted the burden of proof from the taxpayer to the agency and granted other new rights to people involved in collections matters. That law also made serious violations of those rights - especially agent harassment or retaliation against taxpayers - punishable by immediate dismissal that cannot be appealed under a provision known as Section 1203. There was widespread confusion among agents and fear that they would be fired for simple mistakes, said Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union. ``There was a lot of uncertainty,'' Kelley said. ``Employees did need clarity about the new rules and what was expected of them.'' Employee anxiety has eased somewhat as the first round of Section 1203 allegations in August turned up only one probable violation out of 141 investigations - and for nonpayment of taxes by an IRS worker. Kelley said it appeared the IRS was ``applying appropriate standards'' in these investigations. ``What we have seen is that the investigations are done fairly,'' she said. ``There has not been an overreaction by the service to the allegations.'' Rossotti said thousands of agents have undergone intensive training about the new law and taxpayer rights. But he said Congress must set aside more money for staff and better technology if the enforcement slide is to be stopped over. Sen. William Roth, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee that held hearings into the IRS in 1998, said the IRS is undergoing a ``transition period'' as the reform law is implemented. ``The goal is to create an efficient tax system where the taxpayers are treated fairly,'' said Roth, R-Del. ****************************************************************************** *********************************** "Welcome to the desert of the real." Morpheus, "The Matrix". "The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of seas of infinity, and it is not meant that we should voyage far. 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