Interesting article in today’s New York Times:  I.R.S. to Cut Tax Auditors, by David Cay Johnston:

The federal government is moving to eliminate the jobs of nearly half of the lawyers at the Internal Revenue Service who audit tax returns of some of the wealthiest Americans, specifically those who are subject to gift and estate taxes when they transfer parts of their fortunes to their children and others. The administration plans to cut the jobs of 157 of the agency’s 345 estate tax lawyers, plus 17 support personnel, in less than 70 days. Kevin Brown, an IRS deputy commissioner, confirmed the cuts after The New York Times was given internal documents by people inside the IRS who oppose them.

The Bush administration has passed measures that reduce the number of Americans who are subject to the estate tax — which opponents refer to as the “death tax” — but has failed in its efforts to eliminate the tax entirely. Mr. Brown said in a telephone interview Friday that he had ordered the staff cuts because far fewer people were obliged to pay estate taxes under President Bush’s legislation. But six IRS estate tax lawyers whose jobs are likely to be eliminated said in interviews that the cuts were just the latest moves behind the scenes at the IRS to shield people with political connections and complex tax-avoidance devices from thorough audits. Sharyn Phillips, a veteran IRS estate tax lawyer in Manhattan, called the cuts a “back-door way for the Bush administration to achieve what it cannot get from Congress, which is repeal of the estate tax.”

Update:

• The New Republic:  Winning the War on Terror … BY Undoing the Estate Tax, by Noam Scheiber
• Tax Analysts:  IRS Plans Significant Cuts to Estate Tax Program, by Allen Kenney
• Tax & Business Law Commentary:  As Honest As The Day Is Long, by Stuart Levine
• Washington Monthly:  The Honor System, by Kevin Drum