We have serious concerns regarding the Sec. This section extends the warning given in the context of a criminal investigation to a routine civil proceeding. Our final comment concerns the Sec. 8 establishment of an office of ombudsman. There is presently a taxpayers ombudsman at the IRS who overseas the Problems Resolution Program among other duties.
All indications are that the system is working and serving the public.
To tamper with the system by politicizing it would serve no beneficial purpose. However, if this provision were enacted we would disagree with Sec. The ombudsman should not have the authority to override the entire system. Rather, he should see to it that the taxpayer is fairly treated within the existing framework. Additionally, if there was enactment of this provision, we feel that the new subsection calling on the ombudsman to report annually to Congress to be a constructive requirement.