The first step is to restructure and reform the IRS using the blueprint created by the bipartisan Portman-Kerrey Commission. Working with tax experts, taxpayer rights organizations, and IRS employees as well, the Commission developed a framework for improving management, protecting taxpayer rights, and emphasizing customer service. It prohibits employees and IRS offices from being evaluated based on performance results such as audit quotas, a practice that led to many of the abuses we heard about. Employees will be evaluated based on the service they provide taxpayers, just as would be expected in the private sector. We hope to change that by giving taxpayers more rights, including the ability to recover attorneys' fees when the IRS is wrong.
Audits are a terrifying experience for too many taxpayers.
The House will pass these bipartisan reforms this fall. And at the same time, we must begin a debate with Americans about scrapping the tax code and replacing it with one that is simple, honest, and fair. Our tax system must encourage savings and investment and reward hard work and personal responsibility. Unfortunately, like any major reform process, this will take time. The current tax code is peppered with provisions which benefit special interests that will fight tooth and nail to protect what they have.