[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 157 (Sunday, November 9, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H10425]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          TIME FOR IRS REFORM

  (Mr. FORBES asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FORBES. Madam Speaker, the American people recently saw the IRS 
on trial. They saw a parade of witnesses come before the Congress to 
testify about the naked abuse of power over at the Internal Revenue 
Service. We saw current and former IRS agents who had to testify in 
secret because they feared for their lives. We saw ordinary citizens, 
taxpayers, who talked about how an audit turned their entire lives 
upside down, with some of them suffering great financial loss that will 
never be recovered. We saw a government agency totally out of control, 
lacking accountability, an agency where one is guilty until proven 
innocent.
  Madam Speaker, the IRS needs radical reform. This House has taken 
great steps to begin that process, and we look forward to the other 
body and the White House to join us in this effort to reform the 
Internal Revenue Service, which is an agency of intimidation rather 
than enforcement.

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