AIA Unveils Presumption of Rights Agenda to Members of Congress

AIA CEO Chuck Flint wrote a letter to Members of the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee, unveiling our policy recommendations.

The Presumption of Rights Agenda aims to rein in abusive IRS practices and restore accountability, transparency, and fairness.

Read the full letter below.

Members of Congress, 

For too long, hardworking taxpayers and small businesses have faced an IRS with unchecked power, navigating a system tilted against them. It is time to restore balance, accountability, and fairness in tax administration. 

To that end, the Alliance for IRS Accountability recently released our Presumption of Rights Agenda—a bold, common-sense set of reforms that reaffirm taxpayer protections and ensure the IRS serves the American people rather than stands as their adversary.  

Our recommendations focus on three core goals: restoring the presumption of taxpayer rights, enforcing accountability, and reestablishing the IRS’s role as a true service institution. 

Specifically, the agenda prioritizes strong protections for individual taxpayers and small businesses. For example, it strengthens due process by shifting the burden of proof back to the IRS in disputes, guaranteeing taxpayers clear notice of their rights at the outset of enforcement actions, and ensuring they can recover legal and accounting costs when the IRS is proven wrong. It also limits audits in low-dollar cases, directs disputes involving small businesses with less than $1 million in revenue to arbitration, safeguards retirement accounts, and shields disaster relief funds from taxation, among other reforms. 

The agenda also establishes clear protections for large businesses to prevent harassment and unnecessary targeting. For example, it requires the IRS to project compliance costs before issuing new rules, respect a five-year safe harbor on established standards, and set firm timelines on investigations in line with Supreme Court precedent. These steps will bring predictability and fairness back into the process and reduce tax enforcement uncertainty, which is chilling private sector investment and significantly limiting our economy’s potential growth. 

These reforms are not radical—they are common-sense protections that would restore fairness, rebuild trust, and ensure the tax system works for the people and businesses who drive our economy. 

We urge you to stand with taxpayers and small businesses by supporting the Presumption of Rights Agenda. The time to act is now.  

Thank you for your leadership and commitment to restoring accountability at the IRS. 

Sincerely, 
Chuck Flint 

President & CEO, Alliance for IRS Accountability 

AIA is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to exposing IRS abuse, protecting taxpayer rights, and ensuring the agency serves the American people with integrity and fairness.