Installment plan: IRS wants us to pay for it

0 Comments | Milwaukee Sentinel, Jan 9, 1995

The Internal Revenue Service has done it again.

It has proposed that millions of financially pressed taxpayers be charged $43 to pay their tax obligations in installments. That would be in addition to any interest or penalties for delinquency.

The IRS wants to be reimbursed for the costs of administering the installment plan.

This is all supposed to take place in March, after a public hearing. And it's likely to raise about $116 million for the government.

None of this made some former IRS commissioners very happy.

Sheldon S. Cohen, commissioner in the mid- to late 1960s, said many taxpayers are honestly trying to meet their tax obligations, but that the proposed rule doesn't allow for such hardships as job loss or medical problems.

Another former commissioner, Donald C. Alexander, makes the cogent observation that the charge cannot be justified simply because the government made an agreement and now must administer it. Don't expect the IRS to quickly back away on this one. But the public hearing is Jan. 17 and here's betting the IRS feels the heat all the way to the bank.