[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 132 (Monday, September 29, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H8120-H8121]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                THE IRS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Duncan] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Speaker, the Nation has been outraged by the 
disclosures of IRS abuses of power expressed in last week's hearings in 
the other body. Yet very few people have really been shocked because 
almost everyone either has been mistreated by the IRS or has a close 
friend or relative who has been.
  Leaders of both parties have promised some type of legislation, 
possibly even before we break this year. But IRS browbeating of 
citizens is so bad that we need more than some quick fix, cosmetic type 
change. We need to change the entire system.
  The IRS' ability to mistreat people comes primarily from three 
sources: First, a Tax Code so complicated and confusing that no one 
understands it and not even the IRS itself; second, a Civil Service 
system that protects Federal employees so much that they can get away 
with almost anything; and, third, the fact that the Congress keeps 
giving the IRS huge increases in funding.
  Let me speak briefly to those points in reverse order. First, it is 
almost unbelievable, because almost everyone knows how bad the IRS is, 
how abusive it is, yet we are rewarding them with a $548 million 
increase in funding. This is in the Treasury-Postal appropriations 
bill, and the conference report on that bill is scheduled later this 
week.
  I voted against this bill the first time, primarily because of the 
IRS increase and because it also contained a congressional pay raise. I 
hope we will vote the bill down this week, if we can get enough Members 
to request a vote. This IRS increase is almost three times the rate of 
inflation and is totally unjustified, especially for an agency that 
just squandered billions, billions on a computer system that it admits 
will not work in the real world.
  Second, the Civil Service System that we have now really does nothing 
for good, dedicated employees but it serves as a protection for lazy, 
incompetent, rude, or abusive employees.
  There is really very little that can be done to a Federal employee no 
matter what he or she does or does not do, and, unfortunately, far too 
many take advantage of this. Federal employees cannot be held 
accountable for their misdeeds or wrongdoing, and thus nothing is done 
for huge mistakes that would cause quick termination in the private 
sector. About the only real violations that are acted on in the Federal 
bureaucracy today are violations of political correctness.
  Thus, the IRS makes a megabillion-dollar foulup on its computer 
system, but what happens? We give it a $548 million raise and no heads 
roll, as they should. Also, we sit around and see the IRS used as never 
before to get back at enemies, so 12 conservative think tanks are being 
audited while no liberal ones are and Paula Jones gets audited and the 
IRS goes merrily on its way.
  Third, the Tax Code is far too complicated and confusing. Many of the 
answers the IRS itself gives out are wrong. Honest people make honest 
mistakes on their returns and then are pursued like criminals by the 
IRS and zealous prosecutors trying to make names for themselves.
  We need to drastically simplify our Tax Code. We need a very simple 
flat tax or a national sales tax. Much about the flat tax appeals to 
me, but a national sales tax has one big advantage in that it would 
enable us to do away with almost all of the IRS. I voted for the most 
recent tax cut, the first since 1981. Yet one major disappointment for 
me was that it made our Tax Code even more complicated.

                              {time}  1945

  I hope people all over this Nation will call or write Members of 
Congress and demand that we drastically simplify our Tax Code. I hope 
they will also tell their Members of the House and Senate to stop 
giving the IRS huge increases in funding. I hope they will tell their 
Representatives that we need to make major reforms of our civil service 
system so that IRS and other Federal employees cannot get away with 
rude, arrogant, abusive behavior any longer.
  And I hope we will finally start cutting Federal spending. We have 
had much false publicity about cuts, but Federal spending is still 
going way up every year. This is why Federal, State, and local taxes 
combined, plus regulatory costs, now take half of the average person's 
income.
  Big government breeds the types of abuses we are now hearing about by 
the IRS and many other Federal departments and agencies. The only long-
lasting solution is to bring our government back home, closer to the 
people, and let the private sector and local governments solve most of 
our problems once again.

[[Page H8121]]

  In short, Madam Speaker, we need a government of, by and for the 
people instead of one that is of, by and for the bureaucrats.

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