
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, August 5, 1993                   TAG: 9308050236
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-14   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

IRS PROMISES BETTER PROTECTION OF PRIVACY

The Internal Revenue Service, assailed by senators Wednesday over a breakdown in computer security that allowed IRS workers to browse through tax records and monitor fradulent tax refunds, pledged to strengthen safeguards set up to ensure taxpayer records are kept confidential.

"It's not easy, it's painful to admit mistakes you make," IRS Commissioner Margaret M. Richardson said after listening to members of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee express outrage that IRS employees had abused their public trust.

Addressing Committee Chairman John Glenn, D-Ohio, Richardson said, "I feel very strongly about protecting the integrity of the tax system and I told you we will not tolerate anything that will impinge on that integrity or the credibility of the American people."

But Richardson rebuffed a suggestion by Sen. David Pryor, D-Ark., that the IRS notify the taxpayers whose files were improperly reviewed. "I'm not sure there would be a serious value to that in terms of tax administration or in connection with what I see as protecting the taxpayers's rights," she said.

Pryor said he would continue to press for taxpayer notification, saying, "I'm going to really come down hard. . . . I think anyone that we can identify whose files have been browsed for no official reason, I think that taxpayer needs to know."

Richardson's testimony followed the release of an internal report this week that showed almost 370 IRS employees in the agency's Southeast region have been investigated or disciplined for creating fraudulent tax refunds or browsing through tax returns of friends, relatives, neighbors and celebrities. In 154 cases, employees were disciplined.

Few details emerged at Wednesday's hearing on how IRS employees in the Southeast region created bogus tax refunds. An investigative report prepared by the IRS and released by the committee said that four employees are facing criminal prosecution.

by CNB