releases: https://www.isakson.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ContentRecord_id=1f4b3baf-6f49-4776-8d2e-06e25e0d29ca
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://www.isakson.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ContentRecord_id=1f4b3baf-6f49-4776-8d2e-06e25e0d29ca | Senators Fight to Hold IRS Bureaucrats Accountable with New Legislation | 2015-12-02 | 2015 | 2015-12 | Republican | House | GA | Johnny Isakson | I000055 | www.isakson.senate.gov | legacy | WASHINGTON U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., today joined four colleagues in introducing legislation to help hold Internal Revenue Service (IRS) bureaucrats accountable to the American people by giving the IRS Commissioner new authority to fire senior executives who have failed in their performance or committed misconduct. This legislation, the Internal Revenue Service Accountability Act of 2015, which was introduced by Isakson and Sens. Richard Burr, R-N.C., Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Tim Scott, R-S.C., is designed to make it clear the IRS can fire employees who engage in the kind of political targeting by the IRS that was exposed last year. The bill mirrors reforms included in the law Congress passed last year in the wake of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Phoenix wait-time scandal that enables the secretary of the VA to fire senior executives for misconduct. Currently, the IRS commissioner has the authority to fire high-ranking employees for certain forms of misconduct, but to date has failed to use this authority against those who engaged in political targeting of taxpayers. The administration has claimed that the mismanagement occurring at the IRS was not a crime and thusly does not justify the firing of officials who targeted Americans based on their political beliefs. This bill seeks to rectify this problem by giving the commissioner clear authority to fire employees who fail to meet the standards of conduct and performance we should demand of senior managers at federal agencies. For far too long, so many of our taxpayer-funded federal agencies have operated unchecked under a culture of waste, fraud and abuse, said Senator Isakson. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, I have seen firsthand the bureaucratic hurdles that prevented leadership at the scandal-ridden Department of Veterans Affairs from holding bad actors appropriately accountable for their misdeeds and inappropriate conduct. Thats why Congress gave the secretary of the VA firing authority to remove employees that are found to be directly responsible for misconduct. Mirroring the reforms we enacted last Congress at the VA, I strongly support this measure to hold errant employees at the Internal Revenue Service accountable and help restore Americans trust in the IRS." This legislation applies to the highest ranking IRS employees in the Senior Executive Service. Actionable examples of misconduct include: Threatening to audit someone for personal gain; Conducting a seizure without approval; Assaulting, harassing or violating the civil rights of a taxpayer or a coworker; Lying under oath; Falsifying or destroying records; Concealing information from Congress; Underreporting income; and Failing to file a tax return on time. Isakson, a member of the Senate Committee on Finance which oversees the IRS, decried findings in the committees bipartisan report released on August 5, 2015, that confirmed the IRS negatively targeted conservative political groups and identified serious management problems at the agency. Isakson has co-sponsored numerous pieces of legislation including the Stop Targeting of Political Beliefs by the IRS Act to stop further attempts by the IRS to restrict the free speech rights of groups of all political beliefs. Isakson is also an original co-sponsor of the Fair Tax Act of 2015, which would abolish the IRS, repeal all federal income and payroll taxes and replace them with a revenue-neutral, personal consumption tax. ### | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |