But the hearings were valuable because they provided a look at the operations of the national office of the Collection Division and several districts. This is especially true, as it does not appear that factors such as inventories, compliance levels and so forth are responsible for inconsistencies. The only correlation factor the study came up with was that a district with a high enforcement rate for levies also had a high enforcement rate for seizures. The 10 districts showing the highest levy and seizure rates are listed here. The national average of levy frequency is 24 for the period FY 1976 through FY 1979.
Collection management can influence and monitor the revenue officer decisions.
Nothing was said about the districts with the highest enforcement ratios. The Levin hearings focused on district management pressure to close cases and produce seizure statistics. Even though the IRS attempted to characterize this pressure as an aberrant problem of a few overzealous managers who were disregarding the IRM, the evidence was overwhelming that the national office had lost control of what was happening in the field. While the Commissioner testifies to Congress about how well IRS policy and procedure protects taxpayers' rights, the managers in the field are quietly subverting national office policy by requiring their revenue of officers to follow their policy, their philosophy of collection and their whims and moods. As explained earlier, it is the exercise of the seizure authority that usually results in most abuses of taxpayers' rights.