[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 47 (Thursday, April 13, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S2700]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  THE NEED FOR FUNDAMENTAL TAX REFORM

  Mr. GORTON. Every April, Americans are reintroduced to the beauty of 
Spring by blooming tulips, green lawns, and the 5.5 million word 
federal income tax code.
  As every citizen wrestles with the complexity and incomprehensibility 
of the mammoth tax code to file his or her return by the April 15th 
(April 17th this year) annual deadline, there is virtually universal 
agreement that change is desperately needed. I believe that amending 
the tax code is not enough. I believe that we must scrap the entire tax 
code--it is too complicated, too burdensome, too unfair.
  How complicated is the tax code? Here are some illustrative facts and 
figures. The current federal income tax system was born in 1913 as a 
law under 100 pages in length. The original 1040 form covered two 
pages, front and back. This included instructions. Today, the 1040 form 
has 76 pages of instructions alone. The most basic tax form today, the 
EZ1040, has 33 pages of instructions.
  The annotated tax code fills 14 volumes of some 11,700 pages, and it 
takes an additional 19 volumes totaling another almost 11,750 pages to 
contain the regulations governing the code. To implement the code, the 
Internal Revenue Service prints over 400 forms and more than 100 
pamphlets with instructions on how to complete these forms.
  We need to focus our attention in Congress on developing a new tax 
system, and we need the President to support changing the current tax 
code, instead of defending it from reform. Fundamental reform of the 
tax code is my number one tax priority and I believe a new federal tax 
system must be based on four principles: fairness, simplicity, 
uniformity and consistency.
  My support for tax reform should not be interpreted as opposition to 
providing tax relief to American families and working individuals who 
are sending more of their paycheck to the federal government in taxes 
than at almost any point in our nation's history. I absolutely support 
allowing people to keep more of the money they earned, and am pleased 
that the budget resolution adopted by Congress allows for a responsible 
reduction in taxes of $150 billion over the next 5 years, rather than 
the $13 billion tax increase for next year that the Clinton-Gore 
Administration proposed in their budget. The budget plan will allow 
Congress to consider several tax relief measures that not only reduce 
the tax burden on Americans, but also make the tax code simpler and 
more fair.
  Congress has already passed legislation to repeal the Social Security 
Earnings Limit that penalized working seniors one dollar of Social 
Security benefits for every $3 they earn over the limit of $17,000. 
Congress is engaged in a debate to eliminate the marriage tax penalty. 
Eliminating the estate, or death, tax is not only a priority of mine 
and many in Congress, it is a priority for small business owners and 
family farmers whose very existence is threatened by this disgraceful 
tax.
  Americans deserve a tax code they can understand and predict. About 
the only thing Americans can predict about the current tax code is that 
every April they will likely be sending a big check off to Uncle Sam, 
and about the only thing they understand is that the IRS will find them 
if they do not. This must change and it is why I am working for a new 
tax system that is fair, simple, uniform and consistent. A new code 
based on these four principles will free Americans from suffering 
through the forms and tax tables of April tax season, and allow them to 
enjoy the blossoms and sunshine of the April Spring season.

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