By Michael Thompson, Contributing Writer

IRS horror stories continue to be told, but not as many as before.

More than 10 years have passed since the U.S. Senate Finance Committee heard three days of testimony regarding horror stories of overzealous Internal Revenue Service tax collections.

But while IRS horror stories continue to be told, there are not as many as before since Congress passed, and President Bill Clinton signed, the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998.

This law is meant to curtail abusive behavior by IRS agents. At the same time, it also calls for stricter collection procedures, so the sword cuts both ways.

Leaders of the IRS estimate an annual "tax gap" of $345 billion in unpaid taxes, or more than $1,000 for each and every American man, woman and child.

Collection agents, in spite of the IRS reputation for being heavy-handed, collect only a few percentage points of this money, according to the office of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).

The annual sums account for more than half of the national debt, which now exceeds $10 trillion with passage of the $700 billion economic recovery bailout.

Since you have committed the initials for the IRS to memory, you may also consider TIGTA, established in tandem with the 1998 reform act. If you perceive IRS abuse, TIGTA is the place to call is 1-800-366-4484 or visit its Web site.

Plus, if you think someone is cheating the IRS, you also can call that number or visit the Web site.

The mission statement for TIGTA calls for employees to be, "independent, objective and professional in the conduct of our mission." Therefore, while the IRS may be watching you, somebody is watching the IRS, too; reports on its behavior are provided every 6 months.

The most recent report covers October 2007 through March 2008.

Stories still exist of IRS employees going overboard. Many people correspond on Web sites such as this one and remain anonymous.

ZK writes on the site: "I am a 73 year old, single (divorced) woman who is struggling to make ends meet, and barely keeping my head above water. I work for the Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center … Needless to say, this is not a high paying job. For some unfathomable reason, the IRS has decided they need to audit me again.

"This is the third time in 10 years that they have decided to audit me ... I'm not on welfare. I get a bare minimum Social Security check based on my ex-husband's part earnings, not on mine, because I didn't work then. I stayed home and raised our four children, which is what women did in those days.

I do not understand why I am being harassed. I received a statement from them saying I owed approximately $9,000! This is totally insane. Help!"

A veteran writes on the site, "IRS smacked me down hard. They took half my military pension for a year (about $6,000). IRS wants more. I owe more than I can pay. My fleeing for my life and living in the shadows is imminent. All this from a 21-year decorated Navy retiree. I don't want to live here anymore ..."

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, asserts in a 2007 report that IRS harassment and IRS horror stories are on a downward trend.

Still, the report is headlined: "Increasing IRS Tax Collection Powers Threaten More IRS Abuse."

Heritage Foundation author William W. Beach noted that IRS agents who testified to the Senate Finance Committee, often in an anonymous manner, told of repeated and chronic abuses by their fellow employees.

The chief of the office of Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, J. Russell George, states that a modern problem for the IRS is a slow pace of updating technology, similar to what was discovered at the FBI and the CIA after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

This means that employees can violate the privacy of taxpayers, either in general or in the cases of people they know.

George reported that for the most recent six month reporting period, 247 IRS employees were discovered to have gained unauthorized access to confidential information.

One IRS employee, according to the TIGTA Web site, recently was convicted for altering eight tax payment checks for more than $50,000, and cashing them into her bank account.

Had she not been discovered, those eight taxpayers would have been accused of not paying what they owed.

Rev. Wiley Drake, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park, Calif., reports that he wrote a letter on his personal letterhead endorsing presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor.

Furthermore, Drake praised Huckabee on a radio show that he insists is not supported by the congregation. The IRS came a-calling for "a church tax inquiry," and a year later, Drake is still contesting the case.