Editorial: Tipping the tax code

Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2006 | 7:22 a.m.

Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Mark Everson has promised Nevada's two senators that the agency would stop auditing the Nevada food and beverage workers who are enrolled in the tax agency's tip-reporting program.

According to a Las Vegas Sun story Thursday, Everson met with Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign and assured them that the IRS would hold up its end of a bargain with tip earners who were told they would not be audited if they voluntarily signed up for a program in which they use the IRS' formula for calculating and reporting tips.

As the Sun has previously reported, many were audited anyway and told they owed thousands in unpaid taxes.

D. Taylor, secretary of the Culinary Union, which represents many of these workers, told the Sun's Jeff German that the IRS had "double-crossed" the program's participants. Taylor and casino industry officials feared the program would fall apart.

But Everson told Reid and Ensign on Wednesday that not only would the IRS stop the audits, but the agency also would issue refunds to those who paid extra taxes as a result of being audited.

It is good that the IRS has finally promised to abide by its agreement and repay those who were unfairly audited. But Nevada's congressional delegation needs to stay on top of the agency to make sure that happens, as past experience shows some IRS promises ring hollow.