[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2260 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2260

 To allow taxpayers the opportunity to specify their choice of Federal 
               budget priorities, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 29, 2012

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To allow taxpayers the opportunity to specify their choice of Federal 
               budget priorities, 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 ``Accountability to Choices of 
Taxpayers In Our Nation's Budget Priorities''.

SEC. 2. TAXPAYER'S CHOICE OF BUDGET PRIORITIES.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of the Treasury (or the Secretary's 
delegate) shall revise the 1040, 1040A, and 1040EZ forms to contain a 
display of the latest estimate of Federal expenditures in budget 
authority for the fiscal year ending prior to the tax year of each such 
form, and showing the percentage of the Federal budget (determined 
without regard to offsetting receipts) allocated to the following 
categories:


------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                           Budget Act
                      Categories                         function codes
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Social Security and other retirement.................  650, 601, and 602
Medicare, Medicaid and other health..................        570 and 550
Education and job training...........................     501, 502, 503,
                                                                 and 504
Social Services, income security including nutrition.     603, 604, 605,
                                                                 and 609
Defense..............................................                 50
Veterans.............................................                700
International Affairs................................                150
Infrastructure and economic development..............  400, 450, and 370
Energy...............................................                270
Environment..........................................                300
Science..............................................                250
Agriculture..........................................                350
Justice and general government.......................        750 and 800
Net Interest on publicly held debt...................  .................
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (b) Additional Background Information Included in Instructions.--In 
a prominent way, the instructions for the 1040, 1040A, and 1040EZ forms 
shall display appropriate details of the Federal budget showing the 
rounded funding levels and explanations of each category of the Federal 
budget within each category included in the table under subsection (a). 
The definitions of these categories shall be defined by the budget 
function categories included in such table.
    (c) Place for Indicating Budget Priorities.--The 1040, 1040A, and 
1040EZ forms shall be further revised to provide next to the Federal 
budget information described in subsection (a) a place for the taxpayer 
to indicate with respect to each of the 13 categories included in the 
table under subsection (a) what the taxpayer believes should be that 
category's percentage share of the next Federal budget.
    (d) Estimate of Net Interest on Publicly Held Debt.--The estimated 
net interest on publicly held debt included in the table under 
subsection (a) shall be filled in by the Internal Revenue Service with 
the estimated level for the following fiscal year.
    (e) Role of Paid Tax Preparers.--Paid tax return preparers may not 
fill out a 1040, 1040A, or 1040EZ form without obtaining the taxpayer's 
Federal budget priorities. Paid tax return preparers shall not charge 
for filling out the Federal budget priority portion of the form, if 
there is an added charge for doing so, without the consent of the 
taxpayer.
    (f) Collection and Reporting of Results.--The Secretary of the 
Treasury (or the Secretary's delegate) shall aggregate the results of 
the survey under subsection (c) with appropriate demographic detail, 
including results by State. The Secretary of the Treasury (or the 
Secretary's delegate) shall provide information regarding such results 
to Congress not later than July 1 of each year.
    (g) Effective Date.--This section shall take effect with respect to 
forms to be filled out in the year following the date of the enactment 
of this Act or in the second year after such date if enactment occurs 
after July 1.
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