[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 44 (Tuesday, April 15, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H1510-H1511]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Lucas). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentlewoman from Washington, [Mrs. Linda Smith] is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. LINDA SMITH of Washington. Mr. Speaker, sometimes we come to the 
end of the day and we just talk about the things that went wrong, the 
votes that were lost, or we decry the votes that did not go the way we 
want.
  But today, the American people can feel good. This morning while they 
were at work, or while they were busy with their children, there was a 
vote that is really significant, that Americans need to watch in the 
Senate.
  Over my life, my past job was working with the Internal Revenue 
Service, not as an agent but helping people with their problems. They 
would come to me if they were in trouble with the IRS or with the 
taxes, or ask me to help them keep out of trouble. Over the years what 
I found, though, was a significant uneasiness within me, that I felt 
Internal Revenue often knew more about my clients than they really 
should know. I could not prove it, but I felt they were into areas they 
should not be in. Again, I could not prove it, but that uneasiness 
persisted.
  Today, this morning, we rectified a problem that has been going on. 
Just a few years ago there was a report from the Internal Revenue 
Service that said that agents were browsing through computer files, 
private files on citizens, and often in areas they had no right to be 
in. The IRS said, we will never do that again. We will have a policy of 
no tolerance. But this last week we got another report from Internal 
Revenue. They had 1,515 documented cases of what we would consider 
violations of our personal liberties and freedom of privacy. In this 
country that is really important.

[[Page H1511]]

  So right away a lot of us just decided that it was time to make a 
change. The IRS had promised to clean up their act, but the privacy of 
citizens was not protected, so a bill passed this morning that said not 
only is it wrong, but IRS agents would be subject to the same penalties 
you and I would be subject to if we violated the privacy of another 
individual by wiretapping or getting into their personal affairs 
illegally.
  It says, simply, that they will have civil, that means monetary, 
damages personally against them, and that they can go to jail, because 
we hold this right of privacy very, very closely in America. There has 
been a double standard, that agencies have not protected that privacy 
as we would demand and we have a right to expect.
  Later this day, though, we had another vote. It was a good vote. It 
was a majority vote for the taxpayer. Two hundred and thirty-three 
Members of Congress had the courage to stand up and say it is time that 
it be harder to raise your taxes than it is to raise spending, so we 
have to raise your taxes again, as has been going on for many years.
  My mom and dad's income tax to the Federal Government would be less 
than 4 percent, when they were raising me. Today, my children, who are 
raising my grandchildren, their tax is nearly a quarter, and will be 
nearly a half, when we count all taxes on these young families. We have 
to expect that to grow on my grandchildren.
  Mr. Speaker, we took that vote. It did not win, even though we had a 
majority, because it takes a supermajority for that type of vote. But 
it was a good vote for the American people, to show them that at least 
a majority of Congress now care about the American people, the family 
that is paying that tax, and that 40, 50, or even 25 percent is more 
than we should be taking from the working family who would rather spend 
that time with their family; a very good day for the taxpayer.
  But the American people have to understand that they have to stay 
diligent, because until a few years ago when I was written in for 
Congress, and I did not run, I was written in, I was not paying 
attention to Congress. But when I got here I found that it was very 
hard to say no to the groups that came to you and wanted something, but 
very easy to say yes to them, and then, a cumulative giving the tax 
increase, or the burden to the next generation in a debt.
  This is a very good time, but only if the American people address 
this time and weigh in. Again, this has been a good day for the 
American people, but they need to contact their Senators and encourage 
them to also pass the tax snooping bill to stop the IRS from invading 
privacy.

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