[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 139 (Wednesday, October 8, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H8637]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         HONEST TAXPAYING CITIZENS SHOULD NOT HAVE TO FEAR IRS

  (Mr. HEFLEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Speaker, how many honest American citizens are going 
to be terrorized by the IRS before the IRS changes the way it does 
business?
  Everyone knows that it is not just the tax cheats who panic when the 
IRS comes around to conduct an audit. Ordinary American citizens who 
pay taxes are driven to panic as well. It should not be that way.
  Tax cheats should feel the cold, unrelenting power of the IRS when 
their misdeeds are found out, but honest citizens who do their best to 
comply with an extremely complicated Tax Code should have nothing to 
fear from an audit.
  But the IRS knows that many people who work for a living, who have 
family obligations, and are living from paycheck to paycheck do not 
have either the time or the money to do battle with the IRS when the 
auditors want to play hard ball. IRS agents know that and they can 
count on that advantage.
  But an ordinary citizen who is not a tax cheat simply does not have 
the money to pay for all the legal leadership necessary to defend 
himself against the IRS. It is not a fair fight. It is a recipe for 
abuse and it must stop.

                          ____________________