New IRS head says taxpayers no longer trust agency
Source: AP-Excite
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER
WASHINGTON (AP) - His agency under relentless fire, the new head of the Internal Revenue Service acknowledged to Congress on Monday that American taxpayers no longer trust the IRS amid a growing number of scandals - from the targeting of conservative political groups to lavish spending on employee conferences.
But Acting Commissioner Danny Werfel declared he was "committed to restoring that trust." He said he has installed new leadership at the agency and is conducting a thorough review of what went wrong and how to fix it.
He promised the transparency that was lacking for several years as tea party groups complained about harassment by the IRS, only to be met with denials from the agency.
"We must have the trust of the American taxpayer. Unfortunately, that trust has been broken," Werfel told a House Appropriations subcommittee in his first public appearance since taking over the agency nearly two weeks ago. "The agency stands ready to confront the problems that occurred, hold accountable those who acted inappropriately, be open about what happened, and permanently fix these problems so that such missteps do not occur again."
FULL story at link.
Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20130603/DA6MHBRO3.html
Acting IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel, left, accompanied by Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, June 3, 2013, before the House Appropriations subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government hearing regarding a report that the IRS spent about $50 million to hold at least 220 conferences for employees between 2010 and 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
= new reply since forum marked as read
notably a tax code change...? Especially since the paid-for Congress keeps dipping and dodging around such and doesn't really want to address it...?
as it does the whole hoard of peanut-gallery me-toos.
What evidence is there of the assertion that "he uses every power of his office to undermine the legitimacy of the IRS"? This is just silly. This testimony was at an appropriations committee hearing (= money for FY14 budget). Again, as previous posters have noted, there are vestiages of Shrub's & Rove's turds infested in the agency - many of whom were appointees mass-converted to civil service on Shrub's way out. But you knew that, right?
Continually tossing out the juvenile "3-dimensional chess" meme is well past old.
As if we ever did.
