单选题 With 22 years on the job, Jackie Bracey could be considered a career employee of the Internal Revenue Service. But she defies any stereotype of an over-eager agent running down a reluctant taxpayer. Instead, she spends her time defending people who owe the government money. Ms. Bracey, based in Greensboro N. C., is a taxpayer advocate, a created by Congress in 1998 as part of the kinder, gentler theme adopted by the tax collection agency. Bracey and advocates at 73 Other offices nationwide, backed by 2,100 field workers and staff, go to bat for taxpayers who are in financial straits because of something the agency has done or is about to do.
Though it may seem contrary to the IRS, the advocate service not only helps taxpayers, but identifies procedural problems. The main goal, though, is for the ombudsman to step into a dispute a taxpayer is having with the IRS when it appears that something the IRS is doing, or planning, would create an undue hardship on the taxpayer. This can range from speeding up resolution of a dispute that has dragged on too long, to demanding that the IRS halt a collection action that the taxpayer can show he or she “is suffering or is about to suffer a significant hardship.”
Taxpayer ombudsmen have been around in one form or another since 1979, says Nina Olson, the national taxpayer advocate. But they were given much more power in 1998 when Congress decided that the workers would no longer report to regional directors but to her office. While this gave them a great deal more authority, outside watchdogs say more can be done. “There is a long way to go to get an agency that feels independent and emboldened to work for taxpayers”, says Joe Seep, a vice president of the Washington-based tax-advocacy group.
The taxpayers union also has complained that Congress and the Bush administration don’t seem to be taking the advocates seriously enough. Each year, the IRS group reports to Congress on the top problems that advocates see. Many of these are systemic problems that can gum up the works for both taxpayer and collector, such as a December notice from Ms. Olson that the IRS should have just one definition of a dependent child, rather than the three definitions currently used. While taxpayer advocates can help smooth things out in many cases, they cannot ignore laws.
If taxpayers haven’t made legitimate claims for credits, there’s nothing the advocate can do to reverse that course. And Olson says that while taxpayers are free to use her service, they should keep in mind that it does not replace the normal appeals process and should be the last place a citizen calls upon for help, not the first. “We’re really there for .when the processes fall down,” she says. Every state has at least one taxpayer-advocate service office.

单选题 According to the text, the main task of tax advocates is
[A] to chase and collect tax from reluctant taxpayers.
[B] to cooperate with field workers and support staff.
[C] to help taxpayers and find problems in IRS work.
[D] to negotiate with National Taxpayers Union.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[设题点] 转折处
[解析] 事实细节题。根据题干中的信息词 main task将答案定位在第二段。第二段第二句是一个转折句，其中，main goal与题干main task是同义复现。本句话提到“其主要目的还是为了在国内税局所做的事或计划有可能为纳税人制造不必要的困难时，使监察员介入纳税人与税局之间的矛盾争端”，由此可见，他们的任务是帮助双方。既帮助纳税人，又帮助IRS找出工作中为纳税人造成困难的行为。[C]所述内容与文意相同，为答案。 [A]与首段第二、三句话内容不符；[B]是对原文backed by 2,100 field，workers and staff的误解，他们受到field workers and staff的支持，但主要任务并不是与他们合作； [D]不符合逻辑，纳税者联盟与纳税者辩护人的工作目的是相同的，二者之间不存在冲突，因此也就无需谈判。

单选题 The advocate service “may seem contrary to the IRS” (Line 1, Para. 2) because
[A] it works for the National Taxpayers Union.
[B] it often finds faults with their own work.
[C] it speeds up a collection action.
[D] it always criticizes IRS on behalf of taxpayers.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[设题点] 因果关系处
[解析] 推理判断题。由文章内容可知，taxpayer advocate是为纳税人做辩护的。而IRS则是向纳税人收税的。taxpayer advocate作为IRS的员工，主要根据 IRS在工作过程中出现的不合理的征收或者不正常的程序为纳税者进行辩护。可见，二者的工作有一定的矛盾性，因此，也就seem contrary。四个选项中，只有[B]“经常挑自己工作的毛病”能体现这一点。[A]“为纳税人联盟工作”与原文不符，他们是为纳税者和国内税局工作的；[C]的表述没有基于任何前提条件，属于妄断；[D]中的always属于绝对表达，也不符合原文意思。所以，本题答案为[B]。