[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 145 (Friday, October 24, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H9505]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            MORE ON THE IRS

  (Mr. ROGAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ROGAN. Mr. Speaker, if a child molester, a bank robber or a mass 
murderer is hauled before the bar of justice, they are afforded the 
procedural presumption of ``innocent until proven guilty.'' It is 
painfully ironic that when an honest American taxpayer is hauled before 
the IRS for an audit, the presumption often works in just the opposite 
fashion: presumed guilty until proven innocent.
  Recently, the Republican chairman of the House Committee on Ways and 
Means, the distinguished gentleman from Texas, offered a proposal that 
would end this injustice: he proposed that taxpayers be given the same 
presumption the law affords criminals charged with a public offense. 
Unbelievably, White House spokesman responded to this proposal by 
saying it would undermine the ability of the IRS to collect all taxes 
that are legitimately owed.
  In response, columnist Joseph Sobran today hit the nail on the head. 
He wrote, ``the IRS is the last bastion of law and order, if you equate 
law and order with government vigilantism.''

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