July 7, 2003
8:00 A.M. PDT

Members Present

• Griffin, James, CA
• Grimaldi, James, NY
• Maciulla, Gregory, AZ
• Meldman, Robert, Vice Chair, WI
• Mignano, Diane, RI
• Paolone, Francis, AL
• Smathers, Paul, ND
• Whah, Sherry, AK
• Gruber, Anne, acting/Designated Federal Official

Welcome/Announcements/Review Agenda
Chris Lowe could not make the meeting so Robert (Bob) Meldman, as Vice chair, ran the meeting. Bob began the meeting by thanking Larry Lexow and Anne Gruber for a successful face-to-face meeting last month in Edwardsville, Illinois.

Roll Call
Anne Gruber took roll call.

Name Change
Bob reviewed the agenda for today's meeting. First item on the agenda was the suggested name change to Treasury Advisory Panel that the Ad Hoc Committee had proposed. The subject was discussed at the 6-17 meeting of the Joint Committee and it was resoundingly rejected. However, the Joint Committee said that if the Ad Hoc Committee felt strongly about it, they could bring it up again. Bob read through the Joint Committee meeting minutes where they discussed the name change word by word. In the end, they all offered their opinions and 10 people thought NO and three people thought YES. Consequently, the Ad Hoc Committee decided to stay with Taxpayer Advocacy Panel and not to waste time on the issue. The Ad Hoc Committee will defer to the Joint Committee's recommendation and continue using the name Taxpayer Advocacy Panel.

Marketing Strategy
Buck Paolone and his subcommittee consisting of Chris Lowe, Larry Lexow, Diane Mignano, Judi Nicholas, and Paul Smathers had each received a packet of promotional items in the mail last week and Buck called each person individually to discuss his/her opinion, except Judi Nicholas who he could not reach. All the items sent were met with approval with a few minor changes to the name, except the postcard. Bob said that there is a Screen Cleaner that is quite good and also recommended luggage tags. The subcommittee thought the mouse pad/notepad was too busy and the writing space was too cluttered. They would like to see the Mission Statement on a placard.

The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel listens to taxpayers, identifies taxpayers' issues, and makes suggestions for improving IRS service and customer satisfaction.

They didn't think the bookmark had any value. ACTION ITEM: Diane agreed to take digital pictures of the items and email them to Bob. Anne will scan the tri-fold and the press releases and email them to Bob. Buck will create a list of all the items numbered in order of need and send it to Bob. Chris will present the information to the Joint Committee with a recommendation to order.

Tax Literacy Letter
Greg Maciulla briefly reviewed the letter that his subcommittee had prepared promoting tax literacy in the high schools. Now it was in Chris' possession awaiting the next Joint Committee meeting. Bob wondered what the letter actually suggested. Were the panel members to volunteer their time to go to the high schools and teach tax preparation? Greg said NO. It is not our goal to come up with a solution, but merely to identify the problem. Ideally, he would like the Secretary of Treasury, the Secretary of Education, and Alan Greenspan to get together and talk about financial literacy and stress that it includes tax literacy. Anne emailed everyone a copy of the letter that had been developed so far. Everyone approved. Bob suggested that an additional paragraph be written saying exactly what the Ad Hoc committee wants to happen. ACTION ITEM: Greg will write the additional paragraph and get it to Anne by the end of the day, Anne will send the full letter to Chris.

Committee Comments
Anne requested that the committee fix a date for their August and September meetings. August 4 is the scheduled date but Judi and Anne are occupied. The first Monday in September is Labor Day. The Committee decided to combine the two meetings and have one meeting on August 25 at 8 AM PDT.

No other comments were made and the teleconference adjourned.