[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2092 Introduced in Senate (IS)]








109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2092

 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to authorize review by the 
 Joint Committee on Tax of Federal income tax returns of United States 
            Supreme Court nominees, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           December 13, 2005

  Mr. Baucus introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
                  referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to authorize review by the 
 Joint Committee on Tax of Federal income tax returns of United States 
            Supreme Court nominees, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Supreme Court Tax Accountability Act 
of 2005''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Internal Revenue Service estimates that the United 
        States Government annually fails to collect over 
        $300,000,000,000 in Federal taxes legally owed due to taxpayer 
        noncompliance with the Nation's tax laws.
            (2) Collection of taxes legally owed would enable the 
        Government to fully fund the annual medicare costs of America's 
        sick and elderly and substantially reduce the annual Federal 
        budget deficit.
            (3) The Senate Finance Committee's due diligence process 
        requires that nominees, including Cabinet Secretaries and Tax 
        Court judges, provide their Federal income tax returns for the 
        preceding 3 years for an independent review by appropriate tax 
        law experts in the Senate.
            (4) Every day, Federal judges determine facts and render 
        decisions on the application of the Nation's tax laws. Those 
        who are nominated to stand in judgment of others, including 
        Justices of the United States Supreme Court, must themselves 
        assure the American public that they have faithfully complied 
        with the Nation's tax laws.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that 
individuals nominated by the President for positions on the United 
States Supreme Court should have complied with the Nation's tax laws at 
a level beyond reproach. This requires a complete and independent 
review of the nominee's Federal income tax returns by appropriate tax 
law experts in the Senate in a manner that does not compromise the 
confidential protection afforded such tax returns.

SEC. 3. JOINT TAX COMMITTEE REVIEW OF FEDERAL INCOME TAX RETURNS OF 
              UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT NOMINEES.

    (a) In General.--Section 8022 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 
is amended by redesignating paragraph (4) as paragraph (5) and by 
inserting after paragraph (3) the following new paragraph:
            ``(4) Review of supreme court nominee federal income tax 
        returns.--Within 30 days after the date of the submission to 
        the Senate of a Presidential nominee to the United States 
        Supreme Court, to obtain and inspect under section 6103(f)(1) 
        the income returns of such nominee for the preceding 3 taxable 
        years and to report to the chairman and the ranking minority 
        member of the Committee on Finance and the Committee on the 
        Judiciary on whether such returns reflect compliance with this 
        title.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to nominee submissions made after the date of the enactment of 
this Act.
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