December 17, 1996

The Honorable Ted Stevens
522 Hart Building
Washington, DC 20510-0201

Dear Senator Stevens:

I wish to express my concerns in regards to the Internal Revenue Service forcing the sale of Alaska limited entry fishing permits.

As you well know, in Alaska's rural communities, limited fishing privileges are often the only means of earning cash as well as the fundamental way of life for thousands of Alaskans.

I was shocked to learn that on December 11, 1996, the IRS conducted a pre-Christmas sale of an Alaska limited entry permit held by a 54 year-old Alaska Native fisherman from a small Alaskan coastal community. Although the permit is valued at $30,000, the IRS sold the permit for only $5,005.

This to me is preposterous. The Alaska State Legislature enacted a special secured loan program to help such fishermen. Alaska is the only state to have made such a commitment. The IRS knows the State of Alaska is ready to help such individual fishers through our loan program. With the help of the Alaska Business Development Center and others, the state has so far aided numerous individual fishers in meeting their tax obligations and generated more than $4 million in revenue to the IRS. The IRS also knows many of our people do not have the capacity to secure these loans and to meet their tax obligations without intervention and help by the state. Despite this knowledge, the IRS gave the state only two days' notice of its sale.

Christmas is a horrible time for the IRS to pick to destroy a fisherman. I thought all human beings generally recognized the fact that adverse actions taken at Christmas can cause tragic consequences. Additionally, the IRS' lack of advance notice destroyed any opportunity for the state to intervene and counsel the individual fisherman.

It is my understanding that Congress has directed the IRS to avoid inflicting hardship in its collection practices. Yet, this sale appears to be designed to inflict maximum hardship on a fisherman. Also, the IRS has recently announced it is targeting more fishing privileges held by rural Alaskans after the first of the year.

This is maddening, since the IRS knows Alaska is in the last months of our successful tax loan program. The state and the Alaska Business Development Center are systematically traveling throughout rural areas of the state to help secure the benefits of the program for Alaska fishermen most in need. The IRS' precipitous sale (with more to come) destroys these planned efforts and causes extreme hardship to the individual fishers. The IRS further knows it will be forcing more Alaskans onto public assistance.

I would welcome your administrative or legislative help in avoiding hardship. Any possible assistance you can provide would be deeply appreciated. If I can assist in any way, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Quyana,

Ivan M. Ivan
Representative

IMI/tw

cc: Bruce Twomley, Chairman, Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission
Tom Hawkins, Executive Director, Bristol Bay Native Corporation
Terry Hoefferle, Executive Director, Bristol Bay Native Association