What Is the I.R.S. Trying to Hide? [View All]

The attributes that allow the Internal Revenue Service to do its job - power and pervasiveness - are the same ones that create the potential for the mistreatment of taxpayers. To prevent abuse, the public must have a steady stream of facts and figures on how the agency collects taxes.

But as The Times's David Cay Johnston reported last week, after years of providing such data, the I.R.S. is now balking. A motion filed recently in federal court asserts that the agency is defying a longstanding court order requiring it to release audit statistics. The information in question shows how thoroughly the I.R.S. audits corporations and rich taxpayers compared with others, how much time it spends on audits, and how much additional tax is recommended. The figures are crucial in gauging the agency's fairness, efficiency and effectiveness.

The motion was filed by Prof. Susan Long, who teaches statistics at Syracuse University. In 1974, while writing her dissertation, Professor Long sued the I.R.S. for access to agency statistics. In 1976, she won an order entitling her to the audit data on an ongoing basis. Today, much of what the public knows about the I.R.S. is based on data she has gathered and, since 1992, posted online at trac.syr.edu.

In May 2004, the I.R.S. refused to release figures Professor Long had requested. The timing was curious. A month earlier, she had posted data showing sharply fewer corporate audits in 2003 and had critically contrasted the data with public comments in early 2004 by the I.R.S. commissioner, Mark Everson, about cracking down on corporate wrongdoing. The I.R.S. says the events aren't connected.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/17/opinion/17tue4.html?th&emc=th