IRS Performance Sees Some Improvement This Year, Investigators Find

The Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) tax filing season performance is a key indicator of how well IRS serves taxpayers, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). This year’s filing season was expected to be risky because of tax system changes, including the telephone excise tax refund (TETR) which can be requested by all individuals and entities that paid the excise tax, says GAO, which is the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress.

IRS’s interim filing season performance is improved in some areas, GAO says. The number of individual income tax returns processed to date is comparable to last year, and the number filed electronically is almost 6 percent greater, it says.

"Taxpayers’ ability to reach an IRS telephone assistor was somewhat less than last year, but the accuracy of answers to taxpayers’ questions was about the same," the report says. "Use of IRS’s Web site increased, important because it is available 24 hours a day and is less costly than some other types of assistance," GAO says.

Other areas still require IRS improvement, the investigators find.

"Taxpayers’ use of the Free File program, which provides free tax preparation and electronic filing through IRS’s Web site—is 5.2 percent below last year at this time. Also, the Customer Account Data Engine (CADE), a modern tax return processing system, became operational 2 months behind schedule. IRS still expects to post 17 -19 million taxpayer accounts to CADE, which is about two and a half times more than last year," GAO says.

Tax systems changes have not had a significant effect on filing season performance. For example, IRS has received a fraction of the TETR-related telephone calls it expected to date, the report says.

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'Faith-Based' Case Deals with Narrow, But Important Issue, Group Says

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether taxpayers may challenge the Bush administration's use of general appropriations to promote its "faith-based" agenda.

In 2005, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that three Wisconsin taxpayers had legal standing to challenge President Bush's creation of a White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and other promotion of his faith-based initiative.

The Bush administration asked the high court to overrule the decision, arguing that under current court precedent, taxpayers may only challenge congressional appropriations of funds if the money goes to religious organizations. The executive branch's use of general appropriations to set up its faith-based office and promote a faith-based agenda are not fit subjects for legal challenge, the administration argued.

"This is a relatively narrow question," says Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, "but it's quite important. We believe that no tax money should be spent to advance religion. It's essential that the justices uphold the principle that taxpayers can go to court when their money is being used to advance religion."

Hein v. Freedom from Religion Foundation will be the first church-state case to come before the high court since two Bush appointees -- Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito -- have taken seats there.

Says Lynn, "Both Roberts and Alito expressed general support for church-state separation during their confirmation hearings. This case will be a good opportunity for them to put that viewpoint to good use."

Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.



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