The state should have ultimate responsibility once it accepts the return from a resident. If the federal runs an audit and finds a mistake it needs to "convince

The state should have ultimate responsibility once it accepts the return from a resident. If the federal runs an audit and finds a mistake it needs to "convince" the state to do better: actions through Congress, fines based on a narrow system, forced training, etc., or just eat the loss (or take the gain). In this model the federal government only deals with inter-state taxation and with collecting taxes from the state. The goal is to take away the responsibility AND authority from the federal IRS, to streamline the process. If the IRS remains responsible but just has the states "do a first draft", it's useless.