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




                TIME TO TAKE THE TERROR OUT OF TAX TIME

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Kingston] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, today, April 15, brings terror across the 
land to all kinds of Americans who have spent hours and hours filling 
out their tax forms, Americans who want to pay their fair share, 
Americans who know April 15 is coming on, and yet, at the same time, 
are very frustrated by the fact that they cannot figure out what their 
tax forms are.
  A study showed that businesses have spent on an average each year 3.6 
billion manhours a year filling out and complying with tax forms. 
American individuals spend 1.8 billion hours filling out tax forms.
  So in total, Mr. Speaker, we have approximately 3 million Americans 
working 40 hours a week, 12 months a year, just to comply with the IRS. 
Today the IRS has 200 tax forms, 400 forms that tell you how to fill 
out the 200 forms, and 111,000 IRS employees who do not know which 
forms are correct and which forms are not.
  Another study showed that last year on questions to IRS agents, over 
8 million of the questioners were given wrong answers. It is time to 
change our tax system.
  We have, I think, a lot of good employees at the IRS, and yet in the 
same hand we have a system that is impossible for them to work with, a 
system that cannot be audited. Congress has sent in auditors to the 
IRS, and their books are not in good enough order for us to audit.
  Now, what would happen to the businesses back home if the IRS agents 
came to their door and said, ``We want to see your books,'' and they 
would say, ``Well, we cannot be audited, our books are in too much 
disarray''?

                              {time}  1930

  Yet that is the standard that the IRS has. We have spent $4 billion 
on a tax automation system for the IRS, and they are no more automated 
now than they were 10 years ago when we started.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe that the time is right for us to vigorously 
engage in a debate on tax simplification or in a debate on a 
consumption tax. It is time for us to say that the current tax system 
is impossible, it is counterproductive. Businesses and individuals are 
spending too much time trying to avoid tax considerations, rather than 
just doing their daily chores.
  For example, if we have a widget company, the business of a widget 
company is to manufacture, produce, and sell widgets. It is not to 
avoid taxes and try to figure out IRS compliance. Yet that seems to be 
the custom these days.
  I had one constituent call me, Mr. Speaker. She had gotten a letter 
from the IRS saying that she had overpaid her taxes one year and was 
entitled to a $1,000 return. But in order to get the $1,000 return, she 
needed to send an additional copy of her tax return for that year. No 
big deal.
  Now, in this particular case, the woman did her tax form herself. She 
did not use an accountant. She did not have a Xerox machine at home. 
All she did was filled out her original form with ink, and then a copy 
of the original with pencil. So the only thing she had was a penciled 
copy of her tax form. But the IRS letter was pretty explicit. Just send 
in your old tax form and we will send you the $1,000 that you have 
overpaid in the past.
  She sent that in. Lo and behold, her next letter from the IRS, 
instead of saying here is your $1,000, the next letter from the IRS 
says, you are just now paying your taxes from 2 years ago, and inasmuch 
as you are, you owe a penalty plus all the taxes due that year.
  I got involved in it. We fought in a tug of war for a long time. 
Finally she ended up not getting the $1,000, not having to pay the 
taxes twice, but she did have to pay a penalty. The IRS brought the 
whole matter up. She was fine.
  Again, Mr. Speaker, it is just a matter of the system is too chaotic, 
too confused for IRS agents to fairly administer it themselves. So the 
time to debate a flat tax, and the Armey flat tax proposal is that you 
pay 20 percent, basically, of what you earn. The only deduction, I 
believe, that the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Armey] is proposing is for 
dependents, but no other deductions. You can fill out your tax form on 
a postcard. How many Americans sitting at home tonight wished they had 
that option?
  The other proposal I understand is for a consumption tax. It is a tax 
system that rewards savings and it taxes consumers when they spend 
money. I believe both these proposals are good. I believe both should 
vigorously be debated. I look forward to the debates. As far as I am 
concerned, the time has come. Let us get it done.

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