[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 80 (Tuesday, June 20, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1216-E1217]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




TRANSPORTATION, TREASURY, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, THE JUDICIARY, 
 THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AND INDEPENDENT AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 
                                  2007

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                               speech of

                          HON. JOHN E. SWEENEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 14, 2006

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 5576) making 
     appropriations for the Departments of Transportation, 
     Treasury, and Housing and Urban Development, the Judiciary, 
     District of Columbia, and independent agencies for the fiscal 
     year ending September 30, 2007, and for other purposes:

  Mr. SWEENEY. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to express my disappointment 
over the exclusion of section 206 as well as this amendment from the 
FY07 TTHUD bill.
  Rep. Tiahrt's amendment--of which neither provision has any negative 
impact on or shuts down any current IRS program or service--would 
prevent the IRS from using taxpayer dollars to develop programs such as 
return-free tax filing systems, interactive tax filing systems and web 
portals.
  These systems would overextend the IRS, expanding it beyond and 
diluting its core mission of tax collection and regulation. The costs

[[Page E1217]]

of developing, implementing and maintaining them would total billions 
of dollars. All this is even more strikingly troublesome given a recent 
Wall Street Journal poll that found that 70% of Americans don't want 
the IRS preparing their taxes anyway.
  I share the sentiments of the American people. As far as I'm 
concerned, having the IRS prepare your taxes is a little like sending 
your dog to the butcher to pick up your order--it doesn't serve your 
best interest.
  Despite the assurances of Secretary Snow and Commissioner Everson, 
there is currently nothing in statute that stops the IRS from 
developing and implementing a return-free tax filing system. Yet we 
already have a program in place that serves the purpose of these costly 
systems.
  It is called the Free File Alliance--of which my home state of New 
York is a member and it assists people who otherwise cannot afford tax 
preparation or e-filing. The Free File Alliance is a private sector 
program, and provides free preparation services to poor and low-income 
families, and since its inception in 2002 it has provided 15.3 million 
free Federal tax returns.
  Now, the Free File Alliance is not a perfect system yet, and it is 
still in need of additional oversight and reform. However, its 
existence means that the infrastructure for such systems is already in 
place, making the costly development of virtually identical IRS 
programs unnecessary.

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