A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) does various compliance checks to ensure the accuracy of information reported on taxpayers' returns. In recent years, the audit rate--the proportion of tax returns that IRS audits each year--has drawn attention because of a long-term decline in audit rates and the differences in audit rates for lower and higher income individuals. This report (1) describes the changes in audit rates for individual income tax returns overall and for categories, such as major sources (i.e., nonbusiness versus business) and levels of income for fiscal years 1996 through 2000; (2) discusses IRS' reasons and related data explaining the changes in audit rates; and (3) describes what is known about the effects of changes in the audit rates on tax compliance. In comparing fiscal years 1996 and 2000, GAO found that the overall tax audit rate of individuals declined about 70 percent. These rates declined regardless of the individual taxpayer's income level. IRS cited the following three reasons for the decline in audit rates for fiscal years 1996 to 2000: (1) the number of IRS auditors for individual returns declined by more than half …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Gasoline prices in West Coast states are frequently among the highest in the nation and these states tend to see longer periods of high prices compared with other parts of the country, the West Coast gasoline market is characterized by a tight balance between supply and demand, and isolation from other U.S. gasoline markets. Both of these situations cause rapid price increases in reaction to supply disruptions. GAO's comparisons of gasoline prices in California, Oregon, and Washington found that individual markets in the three states are closely linked and are essentially part of a single market for gasoline on the West Coast. Gasoline prices for cities in these states generally followed similar patterns with respect to price increases and decreases. As a result, any event that a significantly changed prices in one state could affect gasoline prices in other West Coast states. Although California, Oregon, and Washington are essentially part of the same West Coast market, each state has attributes that tend to increase its respective gasoline prices. Moreover, within any given state, local market conditions may cause prices to vary considerably. GAO's analysis found that lifting the …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO discussed the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) fiscal year 2002 budget request. Because HUD's 2002 budget request was released only two weeks before this testimony, GAO could only offer a general discussion of the budget's policy policy implications and program trade-offs. GAO found that, in recent years, HUD has had significant unexpended balances, making it difficult for Congress to assess the Department's need for new appropriations. Without accurate and timely information on the nature, the amount, and the availability of HUD's unexpended balances, decision-makers cannot fully and fairly evaluate HUD's funding needs. HUD has begun several short-term efforts to identify, quantify, and recapture some unexpended balances and has, in fact, recaptured about $3 billion each year between fiscal years 1998 and 2000. In spite of these efforts, HUD has not yet integrated the processes needed to routinely and accurately account for unexpended balances into its ongoing financial, program, and budget management. As a result, HUD lacks the information it needs to (1) determine with certainty how much of the unexpended balances should be recaptured and (2) clearly factor these funds into its budget requests."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "To better protect the nation's critical computer-dependent infrastructures from computer-based attacks and disruption, the President issued Presidential Decision Directive (PDD) 63 in 1998. The directive established the National Infrastructure Protection Center as a national focal point for gathering information on threats and facilitating the federal government's response to computer-based incidents. This report evaluates the center's progress in (1) developing national capabilities for analyzing cyber threat and vulnerability data and issuing warnings, (2) enhancing its capabilities for responding to cyber attacks, and (3) developing outreach and information-sharing initiatives with government and private-sector entities. GAO found that although the center has taken some steps to develop analysis and warning capabilities, the strategic capabilities described in PDD 63 have not been achieved. The center has provided important support to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's investigations of computer crimes by coordinating investigations and providing technical assistance. The center has also developed crisis management procedures and drafted an emergency law enforcement sector plan, which is now being reviewed by sector members. The center's information-sharing relationships are still evolving and will probably have limited effectiveness until reporting procedures and thresholds are defined …

A statement of record issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) requested and received $195 million for Hepatitis C screening and treatment in fiscal year 2000. VA's budget documentation showed that it had spent $100 million on Hepatitis C screening and treatment, leaving a difference of $95 million between its estimated and actual expenditures. However, GAO's review revealed that the difference was actually much larger--$145 million. VA's documentation showed that only $50 million was used for budgeted activities and $50 million was used for an activity not included in its original budget--treatment of conditions related to Hepatitis C. It appears that VA is unable to develop a budget estimate that can reliably forecast its Hepatitis C funding needs at this time. However, VA's Veterans Health Administration (VHA) appears to be taking reasonable steps to improve future budget estimates and thereby minimize the potential for large differences. Such steps include developing a Hepatitis C patient registry that could provide the critical data needed to improve budgetary estimates. However, this registry could take as long as 15 months to become operational, which suggests that it may not provide budgetary data in time …