Editorials
Monday, October 13, 1997IN the wake of the deserved battering that the Internal Revenue Service got in congressional hearings, both Democrats and Republicans have advanced proposals to end IRS abuses. Some legislators, such as House Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas, want to go further and scrap the federal tax code in favor of a flat tax or a sales tax. Whatever the merits of those ideas, it isn't necessary to adopt them in order to reform the IRS. IRS must become
more responsivePresident Clinton has unveiled a plan that would expand IRS customer hot-line information service, rewrite and simplify tax forms and instructional materials, require the IRS to track and review all taxpayer complaints and -- a crucial change -- prohibit the ranking of IRS district offices on the basis of how many enforcement activities their agents undertook. Clinton also proposed establishment of 33 local advocacy boards to provide for citizen involvement in handling complaints, and authorization for the IRS's taxpayer advocate's office to issue immediate relief.
Clinton would not go as far as a bill sponsored by Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., and Rep. Rob Portman, R-Ohio. This would establish an independent governing board to oversee the IRS, including the secretary or deputy secretary of the Treasury, an IRS union representative and five persons from the private sector -- effectively giving private citizens control of IRS policy. The bill also would restrict additions to the tax code and streamline the tax filing system.
The Clinton administration supports a rival bill, sponsored by Rep. Charles Rangel and Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, both New York Democrats, with similar provisions except that the board would be largely comprised of government officials, mainly from the Treasury Department. This would avoid the problem of conflicts of interest involving private members of the board. It would keep control of the IRS where it belongs -- in the government.
The composition of the IRS board is a side issue, although the Kerrey-Portman bill could create more problems than it solved. The need is to change the IRS from what Clinton described as an "all-powerful, unaccountable and often downright tone deaf" agency. It can be done without a drastic reorganization and without hampering the agency's fulfillment of its mission to collect the taxes that keep the government operating.
MICHAEL Nakamura has made it official. The chief of the Honolulu Police Department confirmed last week that he will be retiring at the end of 1997 after 27 years in uniform, seven as chief. If seven is Nakamura's lucky number, this is the year to take such a momentous step. Top cop to retire
Nakamura has received mixed reviews as chief. His colleagues praise him for putting a new emphasis on the way officers respond to domestic violence, but much more can always be done to improve police response to abuse victims. He will also be remembered for trying to shield the names of disciplined officers from public scrutiny, and for not disciplining at least one officer over charges of sexual harassment.
Still, the Mililani resident has impressed people with his devotion to the job and boundless energy, especially after being hit with a degenerative neuromuscular condition that weakened his shoulder and leg muscles. He continues to get around very well with the help of a motorized scooter and a cane.
After retirement, Chief Nakamura plans to work as a private consultant, mainly in the area of security. He also wants to continue teaching administrative justice courses part-time at Honolulu Community College. Hopefully HCC students will be able to pick the brain of Honolulu's top cop for many years.
AGREEMENT by tobacco companies to pay $300 million to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by airline flight attendants is an important concession by the industry. However, the mid-trial settlement left unresolved the question of whether secondhand smoke -- the primary issue in the trial -- is a major cause of lung cancer. Smoky settlement
The settlement award will be used to establish a medical foundation to study illnesses linked to tobacco smoke, and secondhand smoke should be the focus. The foundation, which will be operated independently of the tobacco industry, was named after Norma Broin, a nonsmoking American Airlines flight attendant who was afflicted with lung cancer, now in remission.
Researchers for the American Cancer Society have determined that the increased risk of developing lung cancer is 20 percent among women living with smokers over those living with nonsmokers. However, epidemiologists consider an association with a differential of less than 30 percent to be weak.
In agreeing to the settlement, the tobacco industry did not concede that secondhand smoke causes diseases. The companies may have been more wary of the emotional excesses of juries than of any objective medical analysis of the consequences of secondhand smoke.
The settlement followed a jury's award of $1 million to three black teen-agers who were offended after a store's security guard made one of them take off a shirt he mistakenly thought had been stolen. The tobacco industry may have considered the nearly $3 million awarded to a McDonald's patron who spilled coffee that jurors decided was too hot. The industry's settlement is only slightly more than the $262 million that a jury assessed Chrysler Corp. for a faulty latch blamed for a 6-year-old boy's death.
The settlement can be expected to further efforts to broaden smoking bans in public facilities. Such bans should be based on proven health effects of secondhand smoke rather than momentum from this court settlement. The industry's concession was financial, not substantive, and should be regarded as such.
Rupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
