[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 121 (Friday, September 5, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1723]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E1723]]
TRANSPORTATION, TREASURY, AND INDEPENDENT AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 
                                  2004

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                     HON. LOUISE McINTOSH SLAUGHTER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 4, 2003

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2989) making 
     appropriations for the Departments of Transportation and 
     Treasury, and independent agencies for the fiscal year ending 
     September 30, 2004, and for other purposes:

  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the Cooper-
DeLauro-Kilpatrick amendment to H.R. 2989. This amendment would 
transfer $75 million from the Internal Revenue Service's EITC 
enforcement initiative The money would instead be used to audit large 
and medium-sized corporations.
  In former IRS Commissioner Rossotti's end-of-term report, the IRS 
lacks the resources to address 28% of the mid and large corporation 
workload that should be accomplished each year. This lack of 
enforcement translates into the government losing $6.5 billion in 
direct tax revenues on an annual basis, according to the GAO.
  The $75 million provided under the Cooper-DeLauro-Kilpatrick 
amendment would give the IRS just over half of the $180 million that 
the IRS needs to conduct nearly 7,000 more mid and large corporations 
audits.
  Given that the IRS lacks adequate resources to perform audits and 
investigations, I cannot understand why the IRS has recently launched a 
new program to overhaul the EITC program.
  As you know, the EITC is the government's primary assistance program 
for low-income working families. Last year, about 19 million taxpayers 
claimed more than $32 billion in EITC benefits. This money can be the 
determining factor for whether a low-income worker's family will live 
above the poverty line. This is a vulnerable population.
  Mr. Chairman, I can tell you that many of my constituents who are 
eligible for the EITC are already deterred from claiming the credit 
because of existing filing requirements. I fear that forcing them to 
submit a new form will only increase the likelihood that eligible low-
income parents will be further dissuaded from claiming the credit.
  That would be a terrible shame.
  Mr. Chairman, as I said before, given the IRS' limited resources, I 
cannot, for the life of me, understand the rationale behind spending 
$75 million on overhauling EITC procedures especially since EITC 
overclaims account for less than 3 percent of the estimated total taxes 
that go uncollected. Why hasn't the IRS made a similar commitment to 
capturing the $40 billion that the GAO says that businesses underreport 
on an annual basis?
  Finally, Mr. Chairman, as a matter of fairness, the IRS should not 
require low-income Americans to meet a higher standard than every other 
taxpayer, while at the same time they fail to crack down on fraud in 
business and higher income taxpayers.
  I call on my colleagues to join me in support of the Cooper-DeLauro-
Kilpatrick amendment.

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