[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 148 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 148

Expressing the sense of the Congress that the Internal Revenue Code of 
   1986 must be replaced with a new, low, single-rate system that is 
simple and fair, allowing the Internal Revenue Service, as we know it, 
                            to be abolished.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              July 1, 1999

Mr. Bonilla (for himself, Mr. Aderholt, Mr. Armey, Mr. Baker, Mr. Barr 
 of Georgia, Mr. Barton of Texas, Mr. Blunt, Mr. Boehner, Mr. Brady of 
Texas, Mr. Bryant, Mr. Burton of Indiana, Mr. Buyer, Mr. Callahan, Mr. 
     Calvert, Mr. Campbell, Mr. Canady of Florida, Mr. Cannon, Mr. 
 Chambliss, Mrs. Chenoweth, Mr. Coburn, Mr. Collins, Mr. Combest, Mr. 
 Cox, Mrs. Cubin, Mr. Cunningham, Mr. Deal of Georgia, Mr. Dickey, Mr. 
   Doolittle, Mr. Ehlers, Mrs. Emerson, Mr. Forbes, Mr. Graham, Ms. 
 Granger, Mr. Hastings of Washington, Mr. Hefley, Mr. Hostettler, Mr. 
  Hutchinson, Mr. Istook, Mr. Sam Johnson of Texas, Mr. Kingston, Mr. 
    Knollenberg, Mr. Latham, Mr. Linder, Mr. Lucas of Oklahoma, Mr. 
McIntosh, Mr. Metcalf, Mr. Gary Miller of California, Mrs. Myrick, Mr. 
   Nethercutt, Mrs. Northup, Mr. Norwood, Mr. Packard, Mr. Paul, Mr. 
     Pickering, Mr. Pombo, Ms. Pryce of Ohio, Mr. Radanovich, Mr. 
 Rohrabacher, Mr. Rogan, Mr. Scarborough, Mr. Schaffer, Mr. Sessions, 
Mr. Shadegg, Mr. Skeen, Mr. Smith of Texas, Mr. Smith of Michigan, Mr. 
  Sununu, Mr. Tancredo, Mr. Tauzin, Mr. Taylor of North Carolina, Mr. 
Thornberry, Mr. Tiahrt, Mr. Upton, Mr. Wamp, Mr. Watts of Oklahoma, and 
 Mr. Wicker) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
              referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of the Congress that the Internal Revenue Code of 
   1986 must be replaced with a new, low, single-rate system that is 
simple and fair, allowing the Internal Revenue Service, as we know it, 
                            to be abolished.

    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),

SECTION 1. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS THAT THE INTERNAL REVENUE CODE OF 1986 
              MUST BE REPLACED WITH A NEW, LOW, SINGLE-RATE SYSTEM THAT 
              IS SIMPLE AND FAIR, ALLOWING THE INTERNAL REVENUE 
              SERVICE, AS WE KNOW IT, TO BE ABOLISHED.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds that--
            (1) the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (``the tax code'') is 
        unnecessarily complex, having grown from 14 pages at its 
        inception to 4,896 pages by 1999;
            (2) this complexity resulted in taxpayers spending about 
        5,300,000,000 hours and $225,000,000,000 trying to comply with 
        the tax code in 1996;
            (3) the current congressional budgetary process is weighted 
        too heavily toward tax increases, as evidenced by the fact that 
        since 1954 there have been 27 major bills enacted that 
        increased Federal income taxes and only 10 bills that decreased 
        Federal income taxes;
            (4) the tax burden on working families has reached an 
        unsustainable level, with families spending more on total taxes 
        than on food, clothing, and shelter combined; it is also 
        evidenced by the fact that in 1948 the average American family 
        with children paid only 4.3 percent of its income to the 
        Federal Government in direct taxes while today the average 
        family pays over 20 percent;
            (5) the tax code unfairly penalizes savings and investment 
        by double taxing these activities; and as a result it reduces 
        the national savings rate, limiting economic prosperity, job 
        creation, and retirement security, thus forcing American 
        families to surrender control of their finances to the Federal 
        Government;
            (6) the tax code stifles economic growth by discouraging 
        work and capital formation through excessively high tax rates;
            (7) Congress and the President have found it necessary, on 
        3 separate occasions, to enact laws to protect taxpayers from 
        the abuses of the Internal Revenue Service;
            (8) the complexity of the tax code has increased the number 
        of Internal Revenue Service employees responsible for 
        administering the tax laws to 98,000, and the IRS costs the 
        taxpayers over $6,000,000,000 each year; and
            (9) the support of the President for broad tax reform is 
        essential for passage of such legislation.
    (b) Sense of the Congress.--It is the sense of the Congress that--
            (1) the Internal Revenue Service, as we know it, must be 
        abolished, and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 must be 
        replaced with a new, simple, and fair tax system that reduces 
        taxes and applies a single, low rate to all Americans; and
            (2) the President should submit to Congress a comprehensive 
        proposal to reform the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 by April 
        1, 2000.
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