[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 82 (Monday, June 22, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H4948-H4949]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                SUPPORT MY LEGISLATION TO REFORM THE IRS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fox) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise to address my colleagues 
tonight with regard to the importance of the reform of IRS. They 
certainly have gone a step in the right direction, Mr. Speaker, both in 
the House and the Senate with the IRS restructuring format, and that is 
certainly a bill I expect to have conference committee approve, have 
both Chambers approve and then eventually be signed by the President.
  But added on to that is certainly another piece of legislation called 
the Taxpayer Bill of Rights III which I have introduced, Mr. Speaker, 
and its purpose is to make sure we go even further for our constituents 
to make sure that they are protected when it comes to dealings with the 
IRS. We only have to look to September of 1997 when the Senate Finance 
Committee held hearings and had IRS agents under anonymity, under hoods 
with scrambled speech testifying in front of Mr. Roth's committee just 
to the problems that have been outlined, whether it be fishing 
expeditions or the fact that mom and pop stores were the ones that were

[[Page H4949]]

targeted for IRS investigations, the ones least likely to have either 
attorneys or accountants to assist them in determining whether or not 
an IRS tax was due or not.
  And so in my legislation, besides the fact that we changed the burden 
of proof, instead of presuming that in fact the constituents are 
guilty, instead the constituents or taxpayers in this case will be 
presumed innocent and the IRS Commissioner would have to prove 
otherwise, in addition the legislation calls for increased probable 
cause, no more quotas.
  As you have heard the testimony in the Senate hearings, there in fact 
were quotas for different IRS offices across the country which said 
there had to be so many audits or investigations, and certainly having 
quotas is certainly not the kind of jurisprudence that our courts 
envisioned or this country through its leaders would envision.
  In addition, the bill calls for whistleblower protection, so if you 
report wrongdoing by an IRS employee or an office, that in fact you 
could not be audited then because you came forth to tell the truth.
  In addition, the IRS would be responsible for any bad advice it 
gives, just as much as anyone else would who is in a similar official 
setting. IRS would be held to whatever advice it does give even though 
others may have relied to their detriment.
  In addition, when the IRS overreaches and causes a taxpayer, an 
individual, business or legal loss, then the IRS would be responsible 
for that, and obviously it is our hope that through the anecdotal 
evidence which has been brought forward in the Senate hearings as well 
as House hearings, that in fact the American public can feel more 
secure as a result of this legislation, that there will not be quotas, 
fishing expeditions or in fact overreaching by the IRS in the future.
  And finally, the bill calls for mediators to be appointed, Mr. 
Speaker, in the event that a taxpayer wants to settle a claim, that in 
fact the IRS would have to appoint a mediator for the purpose of trying 
to settle that claim.
  And I applaud Members on both sides of the aisle for their efforts to 
work together to make sure we recast the IRS into an agency that is 
concentrated on service and in fairness. And while I am sure most of 
the IRS, if not the majority of the employees working there are doing 
what they think is best, the fact is that we have to change the code 
and the way the IRS is operating under changes of burden of proof which 
will, together with the agency, make sure that we make the reforms that 
the American people want and they deserve.

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