Joseph Giamelli - Page 34




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          Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (RRA 1998), Pub. L.            
          105-206, 112 Stat. 685.1                                                    
               During the hearings and deliberations over RRA 1998, many              
          members of Congress spoke of an agency “out of control” and the             
          need for a system of “checks and balances” to oversee the IRS so            
          that the IRS was not acting as “judge and jury” and to ensure the           
          IRS was not abusing taxpayers’ rights.2  A witness from the U.S.            
          General Accounting Office (GAO) stated that although the IRS                
          believed that it had adequate checks and balances in place to               
          identify misuse of collection actions, the GAO did not believe              
          adequate checks and balances were in place.3                                

               1  144 Cong. Rec. S4400 (daily ed. May 6, 1998); S4521                 
          (daily ed. May 7, 1998); 144 Cong. Rec. H5354 (daily ed. June 25,           
          1998).                                                                      
               2  Practices and Procedures of the Internal Revenue Service:           
          Hearings Before the S. Comm. on Finance, 105th Cong., 1st Sess.             
          16, 135, 195, 221, 223, 231 (1997) (S. Hrg. 105-190, First                  
          Hearing); 143 Cong. Rec. S9992-S9993 (daily ed. Sept. 26, 1997),            
          S11584-S11591, S11594 (daily ed. Nov. 3, 1997); 143 Cong. Rec.              
          H10004, H10024, H10042 (daily ed. Nov. 5, 1997); IRS                        
          Restructuring:  Hearings on H.R. 2676 Before the S. Comm. on                
          Finance, 105th Cong., 2d Sess. 7 (1998) (S. Hrg. 105-529, IRS               
          Restructuring Hearings); IRS Oversight:  Hearings Before the S.             
          Comm. on Finance, 105th Cong., 2d Sess. 165, 169, 211, 243 (1998)           
          (S. Hrg. 105-598, IRS Oversight Hearings); 144 Cong. Rec. S4028,            
          S4031 (daily ed. May 1, 1998), S4184, S4191 (daily ed. May 4,               
          1998), S4407, S4415 (daily ed. May 6, 1998), S4472, S4478, S4490,           
          S4495, S4499 (daily ed. May 7, 1998), S7629 (daily ed. Sept. 14,            
          1998), S7718 (daily ed. Sept. 15, 1998); 144 Cong. Rec. H5359               
          (daily ed. June 25, 1998).                                                  
               3  S. Hrg. 105-190, First Hearing, at 236, 334-335, 338.               
          The U.S. General Accounting Office is now called the U.S.                   
          Government Accountability Office.  See Qwest Commcns. Intl. Inc.            
                                                             (continued...)           






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