Last week, Senate majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., said that reforming the IRS will be a top GOP priority this year. The Semate, he said, "is going to toughen up the [IRS] bill the House passed" last session.
The Senate Finance Committee will begin hearings on IRS reform this week. At the Wednesday session, the panel will hear testimony from Treasury Secretary Rubin and IRS Commissioner Charles Rossotti.
The following day will feature one panel of former IRS commissioners and another of professional association experts. Chairman Roth has indicated there will be additional hearings in February.
Roth resisted pressure last fall to expedite consideration of a reform bill passed by the House with the blessing of the Clinton administration, arguing that Congress would get only one chance to reform the IRS and needed to do it right.
On the House side, the Ways and Means Committee will begin a series of general hearings on the overall tax burden.
The first of three hearings will be held Wednesday and will focus on what Chairman Archer has called "unfair" provisions of the tax code, the so-called marriage penalty and estate taxes. Subsequent hearings set for Feb. 4 and Feb. 12 will focus on the alternative minimum tax, tax rates, payroll taxes and capital gains taxes.
NEXT STORY: A Day in the Life of a Scandal