Rossotti drew bipartisan praise for changes he has already implemented, but he was urged to go farther, faster. Racial discrimination, sexual harassment appear to be common place. And we've even heard evidence of what appears to be, in a sense, extortion, framing and zeroing out of high-dollar liabilities. But Rossotti cautioned that reforming an agency with more than a 100,000 employees and dozens of layers of bureaucracy required a longterm plan spanning the next ten years. Change of this magnitude will take time and there is no magic formula or easy solution that will quickly solve the IRS problems and transform it into a quality service organization.
Fundamental change requires a comprehensive systematic and sustained approach.
Customer service improvements including closely monitoring taxpayer complaints, increasing IRS' problem resolution staff and clarifying IRS communications with taxpayers. An investigation of managers and agents who may have been responsible for abuses described in last September's IRS hearings. A proposed major reorganization of the IRS into four new divisions in order to improve customer service and streamline management to orient the agency from a customer's point of view. One common complaint against the IRS Rossotti took issue with was that the agency unfairly targets taxpayers in lower income brackets. CNN's Candy Crowley contributed to this report.