[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4943 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4943

  To require the Internal Revenue Service to include in the Form 1040 
    instruction booklet information relating to Federal Government 
                  revenues, spending, and public debt.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 25, 2010

Mr. McCarthy of California (for himself, Mr. Cantor, Mr. Camp, Mr. Ryan 
 of Wisconsin, and Mr. Brady of Texas) introduced the following bill; 
         which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require the Internal Revenue Service to include in the Form 1040 
    instruction booklet information relating to Federal Government 
                  revenues, spending, and public debt.

    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 ``Informed Taxpayers' Federal 
Government Annual Reporting Act of 2010''.

SEC. 2. ANNUAL FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FINANCIAL INFORMATION INCLUDED IN 
              FORM 1040 INSTRUCTIONS.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of the Treasury shall prepare the 
report described in subsection (b) for each fiscal year and include 
such report in any published instructions for filling out the return of 
tax imposed on individuals by chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986 for the taxable years beginning during the fiscal year to which 
the report relates.
    (b) Report.--
            (1) In general.--The report described in this subsection 
        shall contain the following:
                    (A) A division containing the summary described in 
                paragraph (2), entitled ``Current Federal Government 
                Finances''.
                    (B) A division containing the summary described in 
                paragraph (4), entitled ``Federal Government Finances & 
                You''.
                    (C) A division containing the summary described in 
                paragraph (3), entitled ``Projected Federal Government 
                Finances''.
            (2) Current federal government finances.--The summary 
        described in this paragraph shall contain the following 
        information:
                    (A) For the fiscal year and the preceding fiscal 
                year--
                            (i) the total amount of revenues received 
                        by the Federal Government,
                            (ii) the total amount of Federal Government 
                        outlays,
                            (iii) the amount of any Federal budget 
                        deficit or surplus, and
                            (iv) the total gross Federal debt.
                    (B) The amount of any difference between the 
                Federal budget deficit or surplus for the fiscal year 
                and for the preceding fiscal year.
            (3) Federal government finances & you.--The summary 
        described in this paragraph shall contain the following 
        information:
                    (A) The estimated total number of income tax filers 
                and nonfilers among United States households.
                    (B) The estimated total number of filers who have 
                an income tax liability greater than zero for the 
                current taxable year.
                    (C) The amount of the total gross Federal debt of 
                the United States Government for the fiscal year per 
                individual described in subparagraph (B).
                    (D) The difference between the total gross Federal 
                debt of the United States Government per individual 
                described in subparagraph (B) for the fiscal year and 
                for the preceding fiscal year.
            (4) Projected federal government finances.--
                    (A) In general.--The summary described in this 
                paragraph shall contain the following information:
                            (i) An estimate of the amount of revenues 
                        to be received by the Federal Government, 
                        Federal Government outlays, and Federal budget 
                        deficits or surpluses for the succeeding fiscal 
                        year and for each of the next 10 fiscal years.
                            (ii) The aggregate of such revenues and of 
                        such outlays, and the net of such deficits and 
                        surpluses, for all such fiscal years.
                            (iii) An estimate of the average total 
                        amount of the total gross Federal debt of the 
                        United States Government for the succeeding 
                        fiscal year and each of the next 10 fiscal 
                        years.
                    (B) Based on cbo estimates.--The summary described 
                in subparagraph (A) shall be based on the baseline and 
                estimates supplied by the Congressional Budget Office, 
                consistent with Section 257 of the Balance Budget and 
                Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, included in the 
                most recent Budget and Economic Outlook Report or 
                Update or any successor document prepared by the 
                Congressional Budget Office.
    (c) Other Requirements.--The report required under this section 
shall be written in a manner calculated to be understood by the average 
person and shall be prominently displayed--
            (1) near the beginning of any published instructions for 
        filling out the return of tax imposed on individuals by chapter 
        1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and
            (2) on the homepage of the Internal Revenue Service Web 
        site.
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