Hopefully, the Internal Revenue Service official in charge of transparency has nothing to hide. We use the qualifier because, well, this is the federal government.

But if the IRS is squeaky clean, why did it refuse to send that functionary to testify before members of the House of Representatives Oversight Committee?

Panel members want to question Mary Howard, IRS director of privacy, government liaison and disclosure, during a hearing on the Freedom of Information Act. But the agency said no, that it would send Commissioner John Koskinen instead.

Now the committee is being forced to subpoena Howard. The IRS called that “unfortunate.” Indeed it is. Federal officials should not have to be compelled to cooperate with Congress.