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Disclosure and Summons Provisions of 1976 Tax Reform Act--An Analysis of Proposed Legislative Changes

GGD-80-76 Published: Jun 17, 1980. Publicly Released: Jun 17, 1980.
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Highlights

Views and suggestions are provided on proposed legislation which would revise the disclosure and summons provisions of the Tax Reform Act of 1976. Basically, the four bills seek a better balance than now exists between legitimate privacy concerns and equally legitimate law enforcement information needs. Two basic principles were used in analyzing the proposed bills: (1) the primary mission of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is to collect taxes and to encourage and achieve the highest possible degree of voluntary compliance with the tax laws rather than to enforce the law; and (2) taxpayers have a basic right to privacy with respect to the information they provide to IRS, and that information should be subject to disclosure only when society has a compelling interest which outweighs individual privacy concerns.

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Computer matchingLaw enforcementPrivacy lawProposed legislationRight of privacyTax administrationTax information confidentialityTax lawVoluntary compliancePrivacy