Talk:Commissioner of Internal Revenue

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[edit] How long do they serve?

How long does a commissioner serve?

It used to be that commissioners had unlimited tenure: Guy Helvering may have been the longest- serving Commissioner, at 10 years, 4 months (6/6/1933 — 10/8/1943). The IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 set a five-year term of office. The Commissioner serving when this Act became law, Charles Rossotti, served the full five years, from November 1997 to November 2002.

[edit] Potential Reference Sources

Thoughts on the reliability of the Tax History Project? They have a list of commissioners from 1862 onward. Tim.kennedy 01:00, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

I think the website for www.taxhistory.org should be OK. Also, I can check it against CCH's website, which is highly authoritative. (CCH also has the list of Commissioners.) Famspear 02:06, 26 February 2007 (UTC)
I found a historical list of Commissioners in an official IRS publication (see the new reference) and transferred all the info. Comparing it with what you entered, it seems the same, except not including any acting Commissioners. I'm not sure if the they really need to be included - I assume they were just bureaucratic caretakers, acting for a week or at most a few months until someone was appointed. I made some attempts at wikification, but some of the links are going to different people with the same name. -- Minivet 02:10, 15 September 2007 (UTC)

Wikitabled the list, I'm going to leave it up to someone more invested in this article to check and decide whether to post it:

No. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Start of Term End of Term
1 George S. Boutwell July 17, 1862 March 4, 1863
2 Joseph J. Lewis March 18, 1863 June 30, 1865
3 William Orton July 1, 1865 October 31, 1865
4 Edward A. Rollins November 1, 1865 March 10, 1869
5 Columbus Delano March 11, 1869 October 31, 1870
6 Alfred Pleasonton January 3, 1871 August 8, 1871
7 John W. Douglass August 9, 1871 May 15, 1875
8 Daniel D. Pratt May 15, 1875 July 31, 1876
9 Green B. Raum August 2, 1876 April 30, 1883
10 Walter Evans May 21, 1883 March 19, 1885
11 Joseph S. Miller March 20, 1885 March 20, 1889
12 John W. Mason March 21, 1889 April 18, 1893
13 Joseph S. Miller April 19, 1893 November 26, 1896
14 William St. John Forman November 27, 1896 December 31, 1897
15 Nathan B. Scott January 1, 1898 February 18, 1899
16 George W. Wilson March 1, 1899 November 27, 1900
17 John W. Yerkes December 20, 1900 April 30, 1907
18 John G. Capers June 5, 1907 August 31, 1909
19 Royal E. Cabell September 1, 1909 April 27, 1913
20 William H. Osborn April 28, 1913 September 25, 1917
21 Daniel Calhoun Roper September 26, 1917 March 31, 1920
22 William M. Williams April 1, 1920 April 11, 1921
23 David H. Blair May 27, 1921 May 31, 1929
24 Robert H. Lucas June 1, 1929 August 15, 1930
26 David Burnet August 20, 1930 May 15, 1933
27 Guy T. Helvering June 6, 1933 October 8, 1943
28 Robert E. Hannegan October 9, 1943 January 22, 1944
29 Joseph D. Nunan, Jr. March 1, 1944 June 30, 1947
30 George J. Schoeneman July 1, 1947 July 31, 1951
31 John B. Dunlap August 1, 1951 November 18, 1952
32 T. Coleman Andrews February 4, 1953 October 31, 1955
33 Russell C. Harrington December 5, 1955 September 30, 1958
34 Dana Latham November 5, 1958 January 20, 1961
35 Mortimer M. Caplin February 7, 1961 July 10, 1964
36 Sheldon S. Cohen January 25, 1965 January 20, 1969
37 Randolph W. Thrower April 1, 1969 June 22, 1971
38 Johnnie M. Walters August 6, 1971 April 30, 1973
39 Donald C. Alexander May 25, 1973 February 26, 1977
40 Jerome Kurtz May 5, 1977 October 31, 1980
41 Roscoe L. Egger March 14, 1981 April 30, 1986
42 Lawrence B. Gibbs August 4, 1986 March 4, 1989
43 Fred T. Goldberg, Jr. July 5, 1989 February 2, 1992
44 Shirley D. Peterson February 3, 1992 January 20, 1993
45 Margaret Milner Richardson May 27, 1993 May 31, 1997
46 Charles O. Rossotti November 13, 1997 November 6, 2002
47 Mark W. Everson May 1, 2003 present

Source: Tax History Project

No article on Guy Helvering; I guess he only lives on in case captions. Green Raum, a Civil War commander turned anti-moonshiner, seems like another fascinating figure without an article. Tim.kennedy 07:17, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

As time allows, I'll try to check this table against the CCH list, and transfer the table to the article if it's accurate. Stay tuned. Yours, Famspear 15:26, 2 March 2007 (UTC)