Citizen v. the IRS

Philip Long, 56, who operates a real estate business near Seattle, first got the dark news three years ago. The Internal Revenue Service wanted to audit his business and personal returns for 1966, 1967 and 1968. After the audit, the IRS claimed that he owed $38,144 in addition to the $21,412 he had already paid. Deciding to fight, Long wanted to know more about how the IRS reached its conclusions, so he asked to see some of the agency's reports and manuals on auditing and other procedures.

Data of this sort are theoretically available to citizens under the Freedom of Information Act of 1966. In practice, however, federal agencies, and especially the IRS, are slow to respond to such requests, as Phil Long discovered. With the help of his wife Sue, he has filed 300 pages of briefs and legal memorandums and spent $10,000 in pursuit of the requested documents, even though he appeared as his own attorney. Grudgingly, tax officials agreed to give up documents one by one, until only two were left in legal dispute. Three weeks ago Seattle Federal Judge William Beeks concluded that those should also be disclosed. It was the first court ruling against the IRS under the Information Act.

After Becks' decision, the agency finally turned over to the Longs a manual that guides IRS agents in negotiating settlements with taxpayers. But it is still reluctant to make public a statistical study of audits, and it may appeal the part of Beeks' decision that requires it to

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