The Nation : Chief of IRS Urges Fewer Tax Penalties

The nation’s chief tax collector told Congress that the system of federal tax penalties has swollen into a hodgepodge the public finds hard to understand and the IRS difficult to administer. In 1954, the law carried 14 penalties designed to encourage taxpayer compliance, but now there are 150, Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Lawrence B. Gibbs told a House Ways and Means subcommittee. “While the merit of each individual penalty can be defended, when taken together they sometimes produce unintended results and have a combined impact that can be too severe,” Gibbs said. He presented an IRS task force report recommending significant overhaul of the system, which, if approved, would result in considerably fewer penalties.