A Farewell Letter to IRS Commissioner Shulman

It was no surprise that IRS Commissioner Shulman announced today that he is ending his term. We knew he planned on it. He ends his term just after the presidential election. Shulman has been the Commissioner since March 24, 2008 and his term ends on the 9th day of November of this year.  He leaves saying that “The IRS made remarkable progress in the last few years during a challenging period.”  Was he referring to successfully facilitating the first time home buyers credit, the humiliating fraud scandal within the ITIN department, or massive MeF failure?

Shulman helped inaugurate a program to register paid preparers in hopes that it would help cut down on identity theft. He pushed to require competency tests for preparers to combat preparer error. He helped to modernize the technology used by the IRS.

No job such as his could have been easy, and one man on top can’t personally do it all. He is not responsible for all the fraud, or the technological failure, but he has become our whipping boy, as many in public office do.

Commissioner Shulman, thank you for attempting to improve a system that the public works to abuse. Thank for starting a competency program forcing our tax preparers to prove they have a modicum of knowledge before preparing. Thank you for protecting us to the extent and ability of the office you held. You are Batman. You are a hero. Not the hero we deserved but the hero we needed. Now, let’s see how soon-to-be Commissioner Miller handles the facilitation of the individual mandate.

I can’t wait for the sequel.