[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 48 (Thursday, March 25, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E495]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


   INTRODUCTION OF THE INFORMED TAXPAYERS' FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ANNUAL 
                         REPORTING ACT OF 2010

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                          HON. KEVIN McCARTHY

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 25, 2010

  Mr. McCARTHY of California. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of 
legislation I introduced, along with my colleagues Congressman Eric 
Cantor, Congressman Dave Camp, Congressman Paul Ryan, and Congressman 
Kevin Brady, that would require the Internal Revenue Service, IRS, to 
publish certain fiscal information on the Federal government each year 
and make it available to taxpayers online and when they prepare their 
taxes.
  Just like publicly-owned companies in the United States provide 
information on their finances in annual shareholder reports, I believe 
the Federal government ought to provide important transparency about 
the state of our Nation's finances. Taxpayers are like shareholders of 
the Federal government and ought to have access to similar information 
on their government.
  Unfortunately, statistics on Federal government tax revenue, 
spending, deficits, and debt are often buried in random reports or on 
government websites and presented in a confusing manner with technical 
jargon or confusing formats. Why must it be that difficult for 
Americans to learn about what their government is doing with their 
money? It should not be, and this is the purpose of the Informed 
Taxpayers' Federal Government Annual Reporting Act.
  Specifically, this bill would require the IRS to publish a chart on 
government finances to be included in the instruction booklets 
taxpayers use when filing their income taxes each April and post this 
chart on the IRS online homepage. The chart would be broken down into 
three sections. The first section, ``Current Federal Government 
Finances,'' would be required to include current Federal tax revenue, 
spending, deficits, and public debt statistics. ``Federal Government 
Finances & You,'' the second section, would include per capita data, 
such as each taxpayer's share of the national debt. And the last 
section, ``Projected Federal Government Finances,'' would be required 
to include estimated Federal tax revenue, spending, deficits, and debt 
over the next ten years as put together by the Congressional Budget 
Office, CBO.
  With enactment of the Federal government takeover of health care and 
the $1 trillion stimulus bill--including interest--it is all the more 
important for the American people to know what their government is 
doing and how this impacts our nation as whole. These policies have 
contributed to the current amount of taxes, spending, deficit, and 
debt, which are all in the trillions of dollars. Unfortunately, it 
seems in Washington that trillion has become the new billion.
  The Federal government takes in over $2 trillion in tax revenue 
annually, but even with that incredible amount of taxpayer dollars 
flowing into the government, this Congress and the President continue 
to spend with borrowed money--$1.4 trillion last year. This means 
Washington spent almost $3.5 trillion. And this year, it does not look 
that much better with deficits projected to be $1.5 trillion, according 
to the Office of Management and Budget. With all this runaway spending, 
the Federal debt continues to grow, and CBO projects it to be $13.2 
trillion this year.
  These numbers are not only shocking, but unsustainable.
  The Informed Taxpayers' Federal Government Annual Reporting Act is 
designed to build upon fundamental tenets of American democracy of 
transparency and openness in government by helping ensure that all 
Americans have access to easy-to-understand information on how their 
tax dollars are being used by their government.

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