Real Clear Politics: Our Chance to Curb IRS Corruption

Op-Ed

Thomas Jefferson once enunciated the basic principle of public service: "When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property."

This sentiment has since been expressed by many American statesmen, culminating in 1989's Executive Order 12674: Principles of Ethical Conduct for Government Officers and Employees, which definitively states, "Public service is public trust."

Today, that crucial trust between the American citizenry and its government is in shreds. According to a recent Pew Research study, only 23 percent of Americans trust the federal government "to do the right thing at least most of the time." A shameful anniversary this weekend provides a partial yet powerful reminder for how we got here.

Two years ago this Sunday, America learned that federal agents at the Internal Revenue Service -- already the most feared federal agency, by far -- had used their daunting power to target conservative-leaning political organizations for unfair, unthinkable abuse.

Numerous groups that had routinely applied for tax exempt status were wrongly forced to disclose extremely personal information about their members, including their family ties, their past political activity, and even -- to my deepest disgust -- the content of their prayers. Many of their applications are still in limbo.

One week after the scandal broke, I confronted outgoing IRS Commissioner Steven Miller as he testified before the House Ways and Means Committee. I told him the targeting "reconfirms everything that the American public believes" about his agency and called it "a huge blow to the faith and trust the American people have in their government."

It turned out that in the land of the free, holding beliefs not blessed by those in power could come with consequences. To many, it seemed that the bullying practices of a Third World autocracy had found a new home.

A Pandora's box had been opened and eventually the scandal took several sharp turns for the worse.

One of these turns came when the IRS admitted it had leaked confidential taxpayer information from several conservative groups to outside organizations and left-leaning media outlets.

In June 2013, Dr. John Eastman with the National Organization for Marriage testified before our committee that NOM's private tax information was given to the Human Rights Campaign and subsequently posted on the HRC website and republished by others such as the Huffington Post.

This sort of unauthorized public disclosure of private taxpayer information is a punishable felony. After the practice was exposed, NOM attempted to learn how the IRS was investigating such an outrageous criminal violation of its privacy. Unfortunately, the same statute which prohibits the disclosure of a taxpayer's confidential tax information also prevents any disclosure of the culprit of that very crime. The IRS seized the excuse. Thus, Dr. Eastman, along with many others victims like him, have been completely stonewalled to this very day.

Fortunately, this particular problem is as fixable as this entire scandal was preventable.

Last month, the House of Representatives unanimously passed a series of bills to stop future IRS abuse and restore both accountability and transparency to the scandalized agency. One of these bills was my Taxpayer Knowledge of IRS Investigations Act (H.R. 1026), which will change the tax code so that victims of IRS leaks can finally get answers to simple questions like "Who leaked my information?" and "What's being done to prevent it from happening again?"

To this day, the IRS is still hiding behind provisions meant to protect innocent taxpayers in order to instead protect its reckless employees. With my legislation, this exploitation will end and wronged taxpayers will receive the transparency they have long been denied.

Of course, such a bill should be completely unnecessary since the IRS should never be committing such transgressions in the first place. Yet, as history has taught us, as long as governments are operated by men and not angels, even the most despicable abuses of power can become reality, and then must be dealt with.

With Congress now in Republican control, I am hopeful that reasonable measures to end IRS corruption can finally make it to President Obama's desk. There, he can join the legislative branch in taking a small first step -- albeit a necessary one -- in closing the dangerous gap between the public and their government that has undeniably widened under his administration's watch.

Ultimately, why does this matter?

Because the legitimacy of our democratic government still depends on public trust. Because every American, by virtue of his or her citizenship, ought to have complete confidence in the integrity of our system. Because, two years after the unthinkable at the IRS became reality, that integrity has still not been restored and, in fact, is only further crumbling.

It's long past time to give the American people a government they can trust again.

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