Home Media Center News Releases

Washington, D.C. -- A nationwide survey by respected pollster Louis Harris and Associates shows that much of the public that has dealt directly with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) views the agency more favorably than it is portrayed in the press and by politicians often seeking to advance their own tax agendas.

"The Harris findings confirm what we know to be true," said National President Robert M. Tobias of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU). "When people who have firsthand dealings with IRS employees are asked about it, they relate a much more positive experience than the widespread myth of mistreatment of taxpayers."

The early April survey of 1,012 adults included answers from nearly 300 people who have had direct conversations about their taxes, either in person or by phone, with representatives of the IRS.

More than three?quarters of those people said they had been treated fairly by IRS personnel, while an even larger number of them??83 percent??said they were treated courteously, the Harris organization said.

Tobias called this "further evidence that the IRS is staffed with competent professionals who work hard to implement the nation's tax laws and who treat their fellow citizens with respect and courtesy." NTEU, the nation's largest independent federal union, represents more than 97,000 IRS employees.

Harris said its analysis of the poll numbers indicates that only about six percent of the public believes it has ever been treated unfairly by the IRS, while only five percent say agency representatives have been discourteous.

Moreover, Harris said, the poll shows that the public sees tax evasion as more widespread than harassment by the IRS.

Specifically, Harris said its poll numbers suggest that the public believes that 38 percent of taxpayers fail to declare all their income, and an identical number??38 percent—claim deductions they are not entitled to.

"Continual criticism of the IRS by the media and by members of Congress, for whatever reasons, only make it more difficult to increase voluntary compliance with our tax laws," Tobias said, "and that raises the cost of finding important federal services and programs for the vast majority of people who pay their fair share."