IRS Accused Of Violating The Freedom Of Information Act

by Leroy Baker, Tax-News.com, New York

11 January 2006

The Internal Revenue Service has come under renewed pressure to supply statistical information relating to tax law enforcement activities after a motion filed in court last week accused the IRS of illegally withholding information from the public.

Professor Susan B. Long, a co-director of the Transactional Records Access Center (TRAC) at Syracuse University, filed the lawsuit in the US District Court in Seattle, accusing the IRS of breaking the terms of the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by failing to abide by a 1976 court order requiring the agency to make available certain detailed information regarding its enforcement of tax laws.

TRAC, a non-partisan research center that disseminates federal government statistical information, is used by many groups to analyze the activities of the government.

However, in May 2004, the IRS informed Professor Long that the agency would no longer supply the requested data and that any future statistical data requests would cost $12,000 per month to receive in electronic format. According to IRS spokesman Frank Keith, the agency's lawyers concluded after lengthy research that the 1976 court order no longer existed and therefore IRS was within its rights to withhold the information.

Recent TRAC reports had revealed a fall in the number of hours devoted to audits of large businesses and wealthy taxpayers, at the same time as an increase in the audit rate in lower income groups.

“All of these and many other similar findings were based on the kinds of data that the IRS has been unlawfully withholding from TRAC and the American people,” Professor Long stated in announcing the filing.

The IRS has countered that TRAC's requests for information had become unreasonably burdensome, forcing the agency to spend thousands of dollars to comply with the requests. IRS spokesman Terry Lemons revealed on Friday that the IRS has received 80 FOIA requests from TRAC in the past 18 months.

The IRS argues that it is under no legal obligation to supply TRAC with detailed statistics, and has been doing so on a voluntary basis. According to Mr Keith, nobody within the IRS is now aware of the 1976 court order.

Professor Long however, believes that the IRS has knowingly and deliberately obstructed the law by withholding statistical information.

"There is no change in what we have asked for, and they know it," she stated.

"The IRS simply has no regard for court orders," Professor Long remarked.

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