Legislation to hold IRS accountable introduced

Legislation was introduced on Wednesday to hold high ranking IRS employees accountable by providing new authority to the IRS commissioner to fire senior executives who fail in their performance or who have committed misconduct.

The Internal Revenue Service Accountability Act of 2015, introduced by Sens. Richard Burr (R-NC), Mike Enzi (R-WY), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Dean Heller (R-NV), Johnny Isakson (R-GA) and Tim Scott (R-SC), is based on a law passed last year by Congress following the VA health care scandal that gives the secretary of Veterans Affairs the right to fire senior executives for misconduct.

“It’s extremely troubling that these problems have persisted for so long,” Burr said. “IRS employees must be held accountable for misconduct. Under the current policy, high ranking IRS officials can cheat on their taxes, lie to Congress, even threaten to audit people for personal gain – all without risking their six figure government salaries. This misconduct is absolutely unacceptable and I am confident we will put a stop to it. The American people deserve better.”

The IRS commissioner holds authority to fire high ranking employees over certain misconduct but has not used such authority against those engaged in political targeting of taxpayers. Under the new legislation, actionable examples of misconduct would include threatening to audit for personal gain, conducting a seizure without approval, lying under oath, falsifying or destroying records, concealing information from Congress, underreporting income, failing to file tax returns on time, or assaulting, harassing or violating the civil rights of a coworker or taxpayer.

“The IRS has an obligation to taxpayers in Nevada and across the country to ensure it lives up to its mission of providing top quality service and enforcing the law with integrity and fairness to all,” Heller said. “It is totally unacceptable for IRS employees to discriminate and commit misconduct based on a taxpayers’ political views. There must be ramifications for this egregious behavior. Last year, I was an adamant supporter of giving the secretary of Veterans Affairs the ability to fire senior executives for misconduct. Granting the IRS commissioner similar authority to fire senior executives who have failed in the performance of their duties is desperately needed at the IRS.”