His rigid philosophy of collection is imparted to every revenue officer in his district. It is no accident that his district is in the top five nationwide in frequency of levies and seizures. Long tenure results in an inability to adapt to changes and a perpetuation of old philosophies that lead to harassment and other abuses of taxpayers rights. Part five of the IRM applies to the Collection Division. In 1979 the IRS computerized the printing and distribution of the IRM to make it cheaper and easier for employees to have their own manual.
Some districts still refuse to issue a manual to every employee.
For example, the Baltimore district issues one manual to the group manager, who keeps it in his office. The inconvenience of having only one manual in an office with 15 employees is obvious. No one learns the details of how the job should be performed. Part five of the IRM is over 5,000 pages long. How an employee is supposed to research, learn, and follow such extensive guidelines with an inaccessible manual defies rational explanation.