[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 77 (Friday, June 17, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 17, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                        ST. PETER VERSUS THE IRS

  (Mr. HEFLEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Speaker, there are two certainties in life: death and 
taxes. The advantage of death is that judgment comes immediately. There 
is no surprise audit 2 years later.
  Certainly there are no letters such as one my constituent received 
from the IRS. It reads, and I quote:


       Our records show that you are a current or retired Federal 
     employee. We previously billed you for your overdue Federal 
     tax. We still have not received your full payment. The amount 
     our records show you owe is $0.00.

  That is right. The IRS sent a letter to a taxpayer telling him he 
does not owe them anything.
  ``Because you haven't paid,'' the letter states, ``we must now 
consider filing a Notice of Federal Tax Lien.'' The IRS is going to 
place a tax lien on a taxpayer who does not owe them anything.
  ``We also must consider taking your wages, property, pension, or 
other assets to pay the amount you owe.''--which, as the letter already 
stated, is nothing.
  Honest, hardworking Americans being threatened by their own 
government for owing nothing.
  Mr. Speaker, Saint Peter is charged with sorting thousands of souls 
every day, and I have yet to hear a complaint. The IRS is expected to 
review 100 million tax returns every year. It is obvious they are not 
up to the task.
  Give me a break.
  This is no way to run a tax system. Support the Traficant taxpayer 
protection bill and my taxpayer rights legislation.
  Let us return sanity to our Tax Code.

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