[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 85 (Tuesday, June 19, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H3211]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  IRS RECORDS SHOW 340,000 FEDERAL EMPLOYEES OR FEDERAL RETIREES HAVE 
                       FAILED TO PAY THEIR TAXES

  (Mr. DUNCAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Speaker, the Scripps Howard News Service reported 
Sunday that IRS records show 340,000 Federal employees or Federal 
retirees have failed to pay their income taxes. 340,000, including, get 
this, almost 3,000 IRS employees. This information came from a report 
prepared by the government's own General Accounting Office.
  Already we know from news reports that almost half of the tax advice 
that the IRS itself gives out is wrong. Now we discover from this GAO 
report that while the IRS comes after private citizens, it cannot clean 
its own house. Almost 3,000 IRS employees not paying their own taxes is 
scandalous. Federal ethics laws require Federal employees to pay their 
taxes as a condition of employment. These 3,000 IRS employees who have 
not paid their taxes should be ordered to pay immediately, or they 
should be fired.
  But the best thing, Madam Speaker, we could do would be to tear up or 
burn the confusing, convoluted Tax Code we now have, come up with a 
new, simple system and do away with the IRS monster as we know it 
today.

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