[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 143 (Wednesday, October 22, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H8933]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     REFORM OF THE IRS AND TAX CODE

  (Ms. GRANGER asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. GRANGER. Mr. Speaker, when I was first elected to Congress, 
people told me that to be successful in Washington I had to know how to 
count my votes. I did not come to Congress to count votes. I came to 
make my vote count. One issue I want to speak out on today is the IRS.
  Recent hearings in the Senate have only confirmed what millions of 
Americans have always known, the IRS is outdated, out of touch and out 
of control. Mr. Speaker, it is no wonder the American people are 
growing frustrated with the way the IRS does business. The IRS recently 
spent $4 billion on a computer program which was completely unable to 
function because it was literally overwhelmed by a Tax Code which is 
too complicated and too convoluted.
  How can we expect the American people to comprehend a Tax Code when a 
$4 billion computer cannot?
  Mr. Speaker, I raise these issues not because I wanted to indict the 
IRS. I raise them because I want to improve it. We owe the American 
people more, much more. We owe them an IRS that is reasonable and we 
owe them a that is readable. Mr. Speaker, the world's freest people 
deserve the world's fairest tax system.
  I do not think that is too much to ask. Let us tear down the Tax Code 
and build up the American people.

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