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Press Release Contacts: Matt McErlean: (410) 308-0359

For Immediate Release Chad Umble: (202) 408-0034 x127 (7/24/99)

IRS Appraiser Blew Whistle After Commissioner and Congressman Turned Deaf Ears

Chad Umble, a GAP investigator, stated, "It appears that no one in the Member's office actually read the document," (an application to represent IRS in the Congressional Fellowship Program), "before launching an Congressional Inquiry on McErlean’s behalf." But in a subsequent letter to Congressman Ehrlich, thanking him for his assistance, McErlean spelled out his intention "to bring the Title XI appraisal regulatory reforms of FIRREA to the Internal Revenue Service." "That was the last I heard from Ehrlich's office," Mr. McErlean said. "I'd assumed he was familiar with FIRREA, having served on the House Banking Committee. Perhaps he agree that the government has an obligation to maintain equivalent fiduciary standards for appraisals in federal taxes. Or maybe the idea of confronting IRS on a substantive issue was unappealing. But it was a shock to be abandoned by my district representative."

The Commissioner's Secretariat did contact Mr. McErlean in early February, to inform him that, since he didn't work for the Commissioner, he (Rossotti) was unable to effect McErlean’s nomination. He raised the appraisal issues and reiterated his concerns about IRS's retaliatory actions. The Secretariat assured him the matter would be investigated. "I never heard from the Commissioner's office again," Mr. McErlean said. "At his Confirmation Hearings, equity in federal tax administration was a priority concern. And he certainly expressed strong views that retaliation against IRS whistleblowers would not be tolerated. Based on my experiences, his actions fall somewhat short of the mark."

But Mr. McErlean expected retaliation for the TIGTA report. "I've been advocating changes in IRS appraisal policy for years and they've made me pay for it right down the line," he said. "In IRS's culture, management perceives any change as an implicit admission of prior guilt, an unarticulated attitude that 'if we change, we create the evidence that we were doing it wrong before.' Hannah Arendt would have had a field day in the IRS."

McErlean said, "Advocating fundamental changes in IRS appraisal practices has been a serious civics lesson in the school of hard knocks. The saying, 'Taxes are the price of a civilized society,' has a somewhat more personal meaning."