At Hearing, Warren Expresses Full Support for IRS Watchdog Nominee
Senator Warren obtains commitment to transparency from IRS Inspector General nominee
“When it comes to making the IRS more efficient or more effective, you have my full support.”
Washington, D.C. – At a hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) highlighted the qualifications of David Johnson, Assistant Inspector General for Investigations at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General and nominee for Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). Mr. Johnson brings over a decade of experience as a federal prosecutor and currently works in an oversight role at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
At the hearing, Senator Warren raised concerns about a backlog of dozens of TIGTA recommendations that have not been implemented, some going back to 2016. Mr. Johnson committed to providing accurate, unbiased information and to being transparent about the issues facing the IRS so that Congress can have the information it needs to implement legislation, make systemic changes, and allocate funding. While Mr. Johnson acknowledged that TIGTA cannot direct policy, he believes the role has “the authority to shine the spotlight on issues.” Mr. Johnson also raised IT modernization, taxpayer services, and the protection of taxpayer data as priorities if confirmed.
Given his qualifications and vision for the position, Senator Warren expressed her “full support” for his appointment.
Transcript: Hearing to Examine the Nomination of David Samuel Johnson, of Virginia, To Be Inspector General for Tax Administration, Department of the Treasury
Senate Finance Committee
November 14, 2024
Senator Warren: Thank you. And welcome today, Mr. Johnson. So the IRS brings in about 96% of the federal revenue that funds' investments in everything from roads and bridges to firefighters and schoolteachers. The IRS is also the largest benefits administrator overseeing tax credits that help millions of Americans.
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, or TIGTA, since we’re all into these acronyms, the job that you’ve been nominated for plays a critical role in making sure that the IRS is doing its job. So, Mr. Johnson, you’ve been nominated for this role, and you bring in experience from over a decade serving as a federal prosecutor, and your work as Assistant IG at the Department of Veterans Affairs. So today, I just want to ask you a little bit about how you would use your experience.
Just last month, the Acting IG published a report identifying nine major management challenges at the IRS, from IT to taxpayer rights. It is a long list, because the IRS is a big agency, and it has a lot to do. So Mr. Johnson, what do you see as the most critical set of challenges, and how do you set priorities to make sure that the agency is addressing those challenges?
David Johnson, Nominee for Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration: Well, thank you for the question. With the caveat that I am not at TIGTA yet, and I would need to get there, talk to people, review what's in the pipeline and understand the state of affairs, including the organizational structure and competence.
I would say that, you know, I have reviewed, kind of, the major management challenges that TIGTA has already identified. They seem very common sense. I believe that the protection of taxpayer data is extraordinarily important. Taxpayer services to constituents is very, very important. I think all of that wraps into IT modernization and making sure that the IRS has the best workflows, given that trillions of dollars are flowing through it, and it has almost 100,000 employees.
I believe that, similar to VA, where I currently work, there are a number of legacy systems that are outdated, that don't talk to each other, and therefore cause inefficiencies and deficiencies in the ability for the IRS to operate properly.
And so I would take my experience in enforcement as an SEC enforcement attorney, as a former federal prosecutor who specialized in white collar crimes, including structuring and money laundering and tax crimes, as well as my management experience now at one of the largest OIGs, where I personally supervise over 270 employees assigned offices nationwide, and a part of an OIG that provides oversight for the VA, which has over 400,000 employees.
So I believe that I have the requisite experience and background to be able to provide that appropriate oversight to an agency like the IRS.
Senator Warren: Well, I appreciate that and particularly your focus on the IT systems. I think that’s very important.
The other report that I want to ask about is the TIGTA semiannual report to Congress that came out earlier this year. That report lists dozens of TIGTA audits, inspections, evaluations that still had unimplemented recommendations, some of them going back as far as 2016.
Now, I will confess this is something that has long stuck in my craw. In fact, I helped pass bipartisan legislation in 2018 to require enhanced reporting of unimplemented recommendations at federal agencies. It makes no sense for the IGs to do all of this great work, and then have the agencies turn around and drop the ball or simply refuse to put those ideas into action. It is a problem at the IRS, but it is a problem across all of government.
Mr. Johnson, I know that agencies are not required to implement recommendations from IGs, but how can you best ensure that the IRS is listening to TIGTA and acting on your recommendations, and the recommendations of your predecessors?
Mr. Johnson: So I think the relationship between the agency head and the IG is a big driver in how those recommendations are or are not going to be implemented. If there's a level of professionalism and trust, I think that, for example, at the VA, it's more likely to happen. I think if it's acrimonious and the IG’s work cannot be defended, then I think you have a problem. So, what you really want to get is a qualified IG who will have accurate and unbiased information, that it can provide recommendations.
And then I think it's really important for the IG to stay on the issue. I think it's important that the IG does not just publish a report with recommendations, and then move on to the next report. If these are important issues that the agency needs to remedy in order to better function, then the IG needs to stay on those issues and continue to make them known to the public, to Congress most importantly because Congress has legislative authority, and in detail.
So, one of the things that I would like to do is make sure that Congress has the information it needs to do to make legislative changes, systemic changes and funding decisions, because I believe that, as the IG, I have no actual authority to make change, but I do have the authority to shine the spotlight on issues.
Senator Warren: There you go. There you go. I appreciate that. When it comes to making the IRS more efficient or more effective, you have my full support. And if there's anything you need from Congress, I hope that you will return and let us know. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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