Putting TRAC to Work
Government
Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Governmental Affairs Committee
February 9, 2006
Senator Carl Levin, ranking minority member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Governmental Affairs Committee, calls on the IRS to stop withholding statistical information from TRAC
	Although not always appreciated by the public, the Internal Revenue Service is in many ways the government's single most important agency. Edmund Burke, a British statesman and philosopher of the 18th century, made this point in a simple but dramatic statement more than 200 years ago. "The revenue of the state," Burke said, "is the state." Because Levin, an expert in money laundering and corporate crime who has served in the Senate for 28 years, recognized this point on February 9, 2006 he wrote IRS Commissioner Mark Everson, requesting the agency to reverse its decision to withhold statistical data from TRAC. "IRS disclosure of the tax information utilized by TRAC not only furthers government transparency and accountability, but also advances the IRS's self-identified priority of improving services for the taxpayer." External Link
	Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, Syracuse University Copyright 2011