Time: Mon Mar 10 13:21:54 1997 by primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id LAA27195; Mon, 10 Mar 1997 11:10:21 -0700 (MST) Date: Mon, 10 Mar 1997 12:22:22 -0800 To: (Recipient list suppressed) From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar] Subject: SLS: IRS Historian speaks (fwd) <snip> >Returns vandalized, ex-historian's book says > >Washington -- The Internal Revenue Service's former historian says the >agency mishandles, even destroys, important historical records. She >alleges that law violations include the vandalizing of presidential tax >returns by IRS employees seeking souvenirs. > >A new book by Shelley L. Davis, who resigned in 1995 after seven years as >IRS historian, hits the stands as the tax-collecting agency faces, in the >words of Commissioner Margaret Milner Richardson, "unprecedented attacks >on the tax system." > >More came Sunday. Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La, a longtime critic of the >agency, described the IRS as "the most un-American agency we have in the >country, where you walk in guilty and you stay guilty unless you prove >you're innocent." > > Appearing on Fox News Sunday Tauzin recommended the agency's >dissolution and a "great tea party" of Americans to toss out the income >tax in favor of a national sales tax. > > In a passage of Davis' book, Unbridled Power: Inside the Secret >Culture of the IRS she describes reviewing tax returns of presidents >back to Woodrow Wilson, who was in office when the income tax was >imposed. > >Davis writes that IRS privacy laws prevent her from detailing contents of >the tax returns. But, she wrote, "I can note, to my dismay, that the >signature blocks on nearly all the returns had been torn off -- where the >president had set down his autograph." > > Davis said she brought this vandalism to the attention of an IRS >secretary, who "mumbled something about 'souvenir hunting' by former >members of the commissioner's office." > > IRS spokesman Frank Keith said he couldn't respond to the allegation >because the tax code forbids disclosing information about any taxpayer's >return. Presidents since Gerald Ford have voluntarily made public >portions of their tax returns. > >Keith denied charges that the agency violates the Federal Records Act in >its handling of old IRS files and taxpayer returns. > >Davis' allegations formed the basis for a lawsuit filed last month by two >groups of historians and a newsletter publisher, seeking to force the IRS >to obey the Federal Records Act. > >------------------In Monday's Arizona Republic Newspaper---------3/10/97. ======================================================================== Paul Andrew, Mitchell, B.A., M.S. : Counselor at Law, federal witness email: [address in tool bar] : Eudora Pro 3.0.1 on Intel 586 CPU web site: http://www.supremelaw.com : library & law school registration ship to: c/o 2509 N. Campbell, #1776 : this is free speech, at its best Tucson, Arizona state : state zone, not the federal zone Postal Zone 85719/tdc : USPS delays first class w/o this ========================================================================
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