Ex-Congressman Still No Friend Of The Irs George Hansen Says The Agency Is Abusive And Should Be Abolished

There’s one person in Pocatello, Idaho, who watched with special interest a couple of weekends ago as a parade of witnesses testified about abuses, retaliation and indifference from the Internal Revenue Service.

He might have been tempted to say, “I told you so.”

George Hansen, the former seven-term southeastern Idaho Republican congressman, has been there.

He started complaining about alleged abuses by the tax agency more than 25 years ago - and he’s convinced those complaints caused the IRS to try to “get” him.

He wrote a book, “To Harass our People,” with examples of alleged terrorism, confrontations and harassment by IRS agents. It sold more than 1 million copies.

Hansen says the complaints haven’t changed over the years.

“The only way to get rid of the problems, to get the federal government out of people’s pockets and out of their private lives, is to abolish the agency,” Hansen said.

“Let the states collect the income tax and pass it on to the federal government. We don’t need to have two tax agencies,” he said.

Hansen says the problems with the IRS began when Congress passed a merit pay plan for federal employees in the late 1960s. He claims it graded IRS employees on the convictions they got and the money they collected, not on how much service they gave the public.

“It just got bigger and bigger,” Hansen said.

After the Teton Dam disaster of 1976, Hansen says, his congressional offices fielded numerous complaints from people about how their federal reimbursements were being handled.

He says the IRS promptly notified him he was being audited.

“They tried to start getting even,” Hansen said.

The process consumed three years before the IRS finally admitted it owed Hansen more than $10,000.

Hansen had other legal problems during that period, not just with the IRS.

He was fined in the 1970s for campaign finance reporting violations.

In the 1980s, the Justice Department charged him with violating personal financial disclosure rules. He was convicted and sent to prison, but the conviction later was voided.

Hansen went back to prison after being convicted along with associate John Scoresby of bank fraud.

Hansen lost the 1984 election to Democrat Richard Stallings by 170 votes and still feels he lost because the IRS was out to “demonize” him so he would be voted out of office.

Now 67, Hansen is living in Pocatello and working as a consultant. His feelings toward the IRS haven’t changed.

“There’s no way to protect yourself from the IRS except to get rid of it,” he said.

Because of all the complaints, Congress is moving toward giving taxpayers more protection in dealing with the agency.

On Oct. 6, the House passed a “Taxpayer Bill of Rights” giving people 28 specific rights when dealing with the IRS. Most importantly, it requires the IRS to prove there was a violation - rather than the taxpayer having to prove his or her innocence - when the taxpayer has followed proper administrative procedures.

The legislation is expected to be considered by the Senate early next year.

Another provision gives “innocent spouses” more protection from tax liability incurred after a divorce.

Susan Wheeler, a spokeswoman for Rep. Michael Crapo, R-Idaho, said that even in the past few weeks his office has been contacted by women who have been notified by the IRS that they owe extra taxes because an ex-husband hasn’t paid.

But Hansen isn’t mollified. He says it sounds like patchwork reform.

“The patch sounds good, … but I would bet that it is nothing but a pacifier until things cool off,” he said.