Senators Unveil Legislation to Overhaul the IRS

Twenty years after he co-chaired a commission to restructure the Internal Revenue Service, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, on Thursday announced his plan for a 21st-century update. The draft “Taxpayer Protection Act,” co-sponsored with Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., aims to improve customer service, modernize information technology and “make the agency more responsive and accountable to taxpayers,” the senators said before a hearing of the Senate Finance Taxation and IRS Oversight Subcommittee. “This past weekend was the 20th anniversary of the passage of the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998, which is the last time Congress enacted a major overhaul the agency,” Portman told the hearing.