Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) — After what he jokingly called a "checkered employment career of interesting challenges," John Koskinen has begun his next one: heading the Internal Revenue Service.

In his first public comments since winning Senate confirmation Dec. 20, the agency's commissioner said restoring public trust, employee morale and congressional funding at the IRS will take time. Koskinen, a former chairman of Freddie Mac, said he wants the IRS to be a fair, transparent tax administrator — and for the public's perception to match that.

"We're not going to turn employee morale around overnight, we're not going to turn around public trust overnight," he told reporters at the tax agency's headquarters in Washington yesterday, hours after a ceremonial swearing-in. "It's important to be on the hustings saying the right things, but the proof will be in the pudding."