October 01,2004

Baucus Comments on Report Evaluating the IRS’s Oversight Board’s Effectiveness

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) Today, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) released a report evaluating the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Oversight Board’s effectiveness in fulfilling its responsibilities as required by the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998. Congress created the IRS Oversight Board in 1998 to ensure that the IRS staffing and budget was targeted to achieve organizational success.

The TIGTA report entitled, “The Oversight Board Has Achieved Much of Its Original Intent, but There Are Opportunities for Increased Effectiveness”, found that the IRS Oversight Board’s influence has made improvements at the IRS, but found that the Oversight Board could be more effective if given broader authority similar to private sector boards, such as reviewing the selection and performance of senior executives. The Senate-passed Tax Administration Good Government Act (HR 1528 EAS), would give the Oversight Board greater authority to approve the IRS Commissioner’s selection, evaluation, and compensation of senior executives.

After the report was released, Senator Baucus made the following statement:

“It has been six years since Congress created the IRS Oversight Board. There have been growing pains, but one thing is clear, the Board’s ability to carry out Congress’s original intent requires us to provide greater authority to the Board. The recent corporate scandals illustrate how an ineffective board can do more harm than good. Congress made the decision to have the Board consist of senior Treasury officials as well as private-sector members. Now we need to ensure that we give them the tools to carry out their purpose. Otherwise, we are not being good stewards of the tax system."

The full text of the report can be found at:http://www.treas.gov/tigta/2004reports/200410193fr.pdf