{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20140221043143/http://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/Article.cfm?customel_dataPageID_1502=47758", "Q&A on the IRS Commissioner", "2013-12-13", "2013", "2013-12", "Republican", "House", "IA", "Charles Grassley", "G000386", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "Q: Will new leadership at the IRS fix the agency\u2019s recent problems?  \nA: As the tax collector-in-chief for the federal treasury, the Internal Revenue Service and its commissioner bear a Herculean task to administer and enforce a tax code blanketing a nation of 300-plus million citizens.\u00a0 Regrettably, the agency\u2019s efforts to uphold the public trust have fallen far short of heroism by any definition.\u00a0 Considering its core mission is to serve the taxpaying public, the beleaguered agency has substantial fence-mending to tend to after a number of self-inflicted scandals.\u00a0 These include the flagrant misuse of tax dollars for lavish conferences and repressive targeting of taxpayers during the 2010 and 2012 election cycles.\u00a0 That extra scrutiny was directed towards groups seeking tax-exempt status and whose political views primarily differed from the current administration.\u00a0 Now the IRS has proposed new rules that would impose new restrictions on political speech by these same tax-exempt social welfare organizations, while providing an exemption for tax-exempt labor unions.\u00a0 The proposal ought to raise a red flag to all those interested in engaging and educating the public about elections. Throughout my decades of public service, I have worked to foster greater participation among the electorate, not less.\u00a0 The next commissioner of the IRS should not allow the agency to undermine constitutional principles of free speech and civic engagement.\n  \nWith its thicket of tax laws, rules and regulations covering individuals, households, businesses, non-profit charities and tax-exempt organizations, the federal agency by any measure has a tall order to fill.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the IRS has flunked fundamental metrics of accountability and transparency.\u00a0 In an era of federal deficits lined up as far as the eye can see, the IRS must work effectively to help close the fiscal gap through principles of good governance, sound stewardship of tax dollars and faithful execution of collecting taxes owed.\u00a0 Due to its spate of scandals, the IRS now also must work to close the credibility gap with the taxpaying public.\u00a0 Our system of voluntary compliance depends upon it.\u00a0 During a recent congressional hearing held to vet the next IRS Commissioner, I used the opportunity to get the nominee\u2019s views and demeanor on the public record.\u00a0 As we\u2019ve learned from the botched rollout of the Affordable Care Act, style and substance matter.\u00a0 It\u2019s critical to have a leader at the helm who will take a hands-on approach to trouble-shoot and address problems, not a feigned hands-off approach that believes ignorance somehow will whitewash incompetence.\u00a0 As a senior lawmaker on the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, I will continue making good use of my constitutional oversight authority to hold the IRS accountable.\u00a0 Considering our current fiscal challenges and the IRS\u2019 expansive new role to implement and enforce the Affordable Care Act, the IRS can expect regular check-ups from this U.S. Senator to restore integrity and service to the Internal Revenue Service.  \n\n  \nQ: What issues did you raise at the nomination hearing?  \nA:\u00a0 For starters, I wanted to clear the air about a common misconception in Washington, D.C.\u00a0 That is the mistaken notion that Washington knows best.\u00a0 The Affordable Care Act provides a perfect illustration of this misguided belief.\u00a0 The President\u2019s health care law redirects one-sixth of the U.S. economy and assigns vast new responsibilities to an already bloated federal bureaucracy.\u00a0 As we witnessed on Oct. 1, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) exposed embarrassing incompetence after toiling for three and a half years and spending hundreds of millions of tax dollars to create an infamously flawed website.\u00a0 And not yet so visible to the public\u2019s eye is that the IRS will play a central role in administering the new health care law, such as issuing refundable tax credits to insurers that would offset the costs of insurance premiums and administering the employer and individual mandates and penalties.\u00a0 Already the IRS has delayed for one year the employer mandate and reporting requirements for insurers and employers.\u00a0 The IRS must still issue these regulations and install reliable software systems to determine eligibility and compliance.\u00a0 In addition, the IRS confronts notorious challenges rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in improper payments under the Earned Income Tax Credit program.\u00a0 In fact, the EITC improper payment rate has exceeded 20 percent for the last decade.\u00a0 The Affordable Care Act has created yet another federal spigot from which to siphon tax dollars.\u00a0 That\u2019s why it\u2019s even more important for the next IRS commissioner to welcome as many partners to the policy and enforcement table as possible.\u00a0 Whistleblowers and private debt collection companies offer very useful tools to add to the IRS arsenal to collect taxes that are owed and to fight waste, fraud and abuse.\u00a0 The IRS has been slow to take advantage of whistleblowers who highlight tax cheating, to my disappointment as the author of beefed-up whistleblower incentives.\u00a0 Considering the IRS is taking on more responsibilities than ever before, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue needs all the help he can get.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://web.archive.org/web/20140221043143/http://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/Article.cfm?customel_dataPageID_1502=47758"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.3631430231034756, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}