Albatross Dragging

[Golden Rocket]

Like the albatross, most of us suffer painful consequences when same gets dragged around our neck for long.

How can this be true for IRS? They can carry the dead bird around for years with immunity. Cryptic legislation authorizing them to write regulations? Doesn't happen. At some point, maybe "temporary" regs, which in some cases linger for so many years that the § is cancelled before "final" regs are written.

Blatant losses in court decisions that they refuse to obey precedent. For most of us this is contempt of court. For them? Nothing. Just a policy for more abuse.

Total avoidance of interpretation for fear of establishing a "safe harbor."

Oversight by Congress? Made big news during Clinton administration. Lots of politicians jumped on the bandwagon and scored big points with their voters, but fact is, it never happened. Instead, New Jersey businessman who testified was later called in for a TCMP audit.

How can this blatant abuse be dealt with? I don't want to belittle NATP & NAEA but they do not have teeth enough for any consideration except an occasional polite luncheon-type hearing. Do we have lobbyists? referred to by a former football jock on talk radio as "the multi-billion dollar tax preparation lobby?" [What a joke - I nearly fell out of my chair]

Advice from fellow tax practitioners is welcomed here. If we can't do anything about it politically, how do we deal with it as it affects our clients?

[erchess]

No way to punish government

It is impossible to punish "the government". Even when the courts (which are after all part of government) rule that a government agency must pay a given abused person a given sum of money, that money comes from the taxpayers and the money that agency has to operate on is not reduced. Furthermore you wouldn't really want the situation to be otherwise. For example when some bad LAPD officers beat up Rodney King, surely Mr. King was entitled to damages but no sane person would have wanted to say that the damages should reduce the spending of the LAPD in the next year. What enforcement activities would you have had the Department do less of? The only answer to Mr. KIng's payment is to increase taxes and the only meaningful punishments must be imposed on the individuals who beat him up. That in point of fact was attempted although I do not recall its having much success.

Turning to taxing agencies, the only way I know to deal with abuses is to require all enforcement activities to be approved by persons who report to the Agency Head and who in approving accept for themselves civil and criminal liabilities if the actions they approve turn out to be even arguably unjustified by the law and facts.