Opening a three-day review of the IRS, Senate Finance Chairman William Roth, R-Del., Tuesday charged that tax collectors have used false identification and that agents have pursued taxpayers "who can't afford to fight back" to meet collection quotas.
Said Roth: "We are holding these hearings because one thing is certain. We can't fix the IRS without knowing what ails the IRS."
Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., along with several authors and tax-related trade groups, were among the first witnesses called to describe the agency's troubles.
GOP operatives believe IRS reform offers a prime chance to score points against President Clinton and Vice President Gore for allegedly politicizing the agency; one conservative says pending reform legislation is privately dubbed "The Don't Audit Paula Jones Act."
Congressional Democrats can expect to take some shots as well: The National Republican Senatorial Committee Tuesday lambasted Senate Minority Leader Daschle as the "IRS Poster Boy" after his parliamentary maneuver halted the first day of Finance Committee hearings into the IRS.
Daschle invoked a rule that halted every hearing that was underway in protest of the slow pace of judicial confirmations, the Louisiana Senate race investigation, and campaign finance reform, although an agreement on the latter issue was reached later in the day. The NRSC accused Daschle of "shielding the IRS goons who audit Bill Clinton's political enemies."
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