[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 16 (Thursday, February 26, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H634-H635]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               IRS REFORM

  (Mr. WELDON of Florida asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WELDON of Florida. Mr. Speaker, Americans who take an 
increasingly cynical view of politics and politicians often claim that 
``politicians are all the same,'' and those who do not vote justify 
their passivity saying ``it does not matter.''
  I respectfully disagree. Consider the proposals to reform the IRS. 
The Democratic Party controlled Congress for a period of 40 years, 
ending in 1995.

[[Page H635]]

They had countless opportunities to do something about a government 
agency that clearly had major problems, problems which offended the 
American ideals of due process, of innocence until proven guilty, and 
basic fairness before the law.
  When we have a country in which honest citizens fear a tax audit as 
much as tax cheats do, that is a situation that demands action. 
However, when one party seeks to expand the size and power of 
Washington and the IRS is the source of its power to do so, well, it is 
not surprising that nothing was done in 40 years to improve the 
situation.
  Our party intends to reduce the size and power of Washington, so it 
is only natural that our party seeks to reform the IRS, and that makes 
all the difference.

                          ____________________