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Washington, D.C.-- The head of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) today said that the steps taken by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to hold its managers accountable for their treatment of taxpayers and employees "are important steps toward a reformed IRS."
NTEU President Robert M. Tobias applauded the report of the agency's Special Review Panel??a three?member group from outside the IRS appointed earlier this year by Commissioner Charles O. Rossotti??that reviewed allegations of misuse of tax enforcement statistics and recommended disciplinary action. In all, such action has been taken against 12 individuals, with another 92 under continuing investigation for misuse of statistics.
"NTEU warned more than three years ago that the use of enforcement statistics as the driving force in measuring performance was wrong and damaging, both for the IRS and nation," Tobias said. "That fact became painfully clear during 1997 Senate Finance Committee hearings."
Tobias emphasized that as the IRS restructures itself, consistent with legislation approved by Congress earlier this year, it must move away from statistics?driven performance measures, particularly those centering on enforcement actions, and instead measure performance based on the quality of customer service.
"Not only is this a way to boost voluntary compliance with the tax laws," he said, "but the knowledge that people within the agency will be held accountable for their actions is essential if restructuring of the IRS is to be successful."
As part of its restructuring plan, the IRS will adopt a measurement system that will balance business results with customer and employee satisfaction. Tobias noted that it will have as its primary goal organizational performance rather than individual performance.
It also will employ such techniques as surveys of employees, measuring their job satisfaction, and of taxpayers who have recently interacted with the agency.
Tobias urged Congress to give the agency the time it needs to implement and refine the new system and to refrain from applying the kind of pressure on the IRS that in the past has resulted in a productivity?focused workplace managed primarily by statistical goals and measures.