Unless these interpretations are made public, taxpayers have no way of knowing whether the IRS is applying similar standards to similarly situated taxpayers. TO KNOW THE LAW . The IRS needs to maintain consistency of position. An IRS agent in New York should take the same position on a given tax issue as an agent in San Francisco. But when legal interpretations are broadly available within an agency such as the IRS, the Freedom of Information Act commands that they be made public, because they constitute working agency law.
Citizens have a right to know the law.
IRS legal interpretations are often the result of sophisticated deal-making between taxpayers and the Office of IRS Chief Counsel. It's often easier to negotiate deals if the results can be kept secret. But there is a tendency to let standards slip unless there is outside scrutiny. Public disclosure of IRS interpretations assures the public that legal standards are being upheld when the IRS makes deals with powerful taxpayers. Before enactment of the Freedom of Information Act in 1966, the practice of law before the IRS was an insider's game.