The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

Margaret Richardson, IRS commissioner during Clinton’s first term, dies at 78

July 13, 2021 at 6:56 p.m. EDT
Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Margaret Richardson, left, and Deputy Commissioner Michael Dolan, right, testify on Capitol Hill in 1993. (JOHN DURICKA/AP)

Margaret “Peggy” Richardson, a Washington tax lawyer who became commissioner of internal revenue during President Bill Clinton’s first term and was the second woman to serve as the nation’s chief tax collector, died July 13 at her home in Delaplane, Va. She was 78.

The cause was complications from lung cancer, said her daughter, Margaret L. Richardson.