Last week, we blogged the motion filed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) of Syracuse University claiming that the IRS has violated a longstanding court order by stopping to provide TRAC with detailed statistics about how the agency enforces the nation’s tax laws.  Here are some updates:

• NY Times Editorial (1/17):  What Is the I.R.S. Trying to Hide?:

The motion was filed by Prof. Susan Long, who teaches statistics at Syracuse University. In 1974, while writing her dissertation, Professor Long sued the I.R.S. for access to agency statistics. In 1976, she won an order entitling her to the audit data on an ongoing basis. Today, much of what the public knows about the I.R.S. is based on data she has gathered…

In May 2004, the I.R.S. refused to release figures Professor Long had requested. The timing was curious. A month earlier, she had posted data showing sharply fewer corporate audits in 2003 and had critically contrasted the data with public comments in early 2004 by the I.R.S. commissioner, Mark Everson, about cracking down on corporate wrongdoing. The I.R.S. says the events aren’t connected.

First, the agency told Professor Long that it was under no obligation to provide the data. Reminded of the court order, the I.R.S. now says that Professor Long’s requests have become excessive and could inadvertently reveal the identities of taxpayers. Professor Long simply asks the court to enforce its order. She deserves to prevail again.

• Boston Heald Editorial (1/15):  Time to put IRS on the Hot Seat:

There is seemingly no end to the stupidities of the Internal Revenue Service. Congress ought to put the agency on the hot seat again…. Analyses like those of TRAC and the public advocate are essential for Congress and the public to judge whether the nation’s taxes are collected fairly and efficiently. Something produced by bureaucrats may start out sound but be subject to suppression or distortion up the chain of command. Only Congress can pry the data loose.

• Linda Beale (A Taxing Matter) (1/9):  IRS Enforcement, Government Secrecy and the TRAC Lawsuit:

Government secrecy means that government actions are not accountable to the people. If statements by commissioners or agents cannot be verified by independent analysis, we may not be able to trust in the credibility of those statements. Yet trust is central to our voluntary compliance system. It behooves the IRS to be more forthcoming with information about its enforcement efforts. If it does not do so voluntarily, then it is important for organizations like TRAC to follow through in the courts as TRAC is doing in this instance.

• Alicia Korney (Web CPA): IRS Looks the Hypocrite in Data Case:

It was just two months ago that IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson touted his agency’s enforcement results for the 2005 fiscal year. In public remarks that ran mostly like a recitation of statistics, Everson said that at the mid-point of his five-year term heading up the agency, strong progress continued to be made on one of his three main goals — the enhancement of enforcement activities.

Funnily enough, it was just a little more than a year into Everson’s term, May 2004, that the newly enforcement-focused IRS made the decision to stop providing a Syracuse University professor detailed records of its audits of major corporations and individuals in the highest tax brackets. The agency added that after providing the records free of charge to Dr. Susan Long for nearly 30 years, if such data were to again be made available to the public in the future, the information would cost $12,000 a month for electronic copies….

The case could go to trial as early as this month. Here’s hoping Long gets another courtroom win, because transparency isn’t about the public listening to the recitation of a federal agency’s highlights alone.

• Associated Press (Michael J. Sniffen) (1/8): IRS Said to Improperly Restrict Access.