[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 112 (Wednesday, July 31, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H5211-H5212]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TAXPAYER BILL OF RIGHTS ACT OF 2013
Mr. ROSKAM. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 2768) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to clarify
that a duty of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue is to ensure that
Internal Revenue Service employees are familiar with and act in accord
with certain taxpayer rights, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 2768
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Taxpayer Bill of Rights Act
of 2013''.
SEC. 2. DUTY TO ENSURE THAT IRS EMPLOYEES ARE FAMILIAR WITH
AND ACT IN ACCORD WITH CERTAIN TAXPAYER RIGHTS.
Section 7803(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is
amended by redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (4) and
by inserting after paragraph (2) the following new paragraph:
``(3) Execution of duties in accord with taxpayer rights.--
In discharging his duties, the Commissioner shall ensure that
employees of the Internal Revenue Service are familiar with
and act in accord with taxpayer rights as afforded by other
provisions of this title, including--
``(A) the right to be informed,
``(B) the right to be assisted,
``(C) the right to be heard,
``(D) the right to pay no more than the correct amount of
tax,
``(E) the right of appeal,
``(F) the right to certainty,
``(G) the right to privacy,
``(H) the right to confidentiality,
``(I) the right to representation, and
``(J) the right to a fair and just tax system.''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Illinois (Mr. Roskam) and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Illinois.
General Leave
Mr. ROSKAM. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks
and to include extraneous material on the subject of the bill under
consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Illinois?
There was no objection.
Mr. ROSKAM. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
H.R. 2768 is entitled the ``Taxpayer Bill of Rights Act of 2013.''
What it does is address a fundamental question. There was an ambiguity,
apparently, Mr. Speaker, in the testimony that you heard in the Ways
and Means Committee and that the ranking member heard in the Ways and
Means Committee and in some other testimony that we've heard from the
other body, which is this: Who is responsible for having an
understanding of what's going on at the Internal Revenue Service? Who
is responsible for the missteps and the mishaps and so forth?
There was a theme that we heard from a couple of folks who you would
have thought would have said that the responsibility was theirs, but
they weren't really willing to take the responsibility. Here is what I
mean by that. There currently exists 10 enumerated rights in the
statute, and let me just quickly run through these. It's important that
we look at this as a foundation upon which we have an expectation that
the Internal Revenue Service is operating:
Taxpayers have the right to be informed, the right to be assisted,
the right to be heard, the right to pay no more than the correct amount
of tax, the right of appeal, the right of certainty, the right of
privacy, the right of confidentiality, the right to representation, and
the right to a fair and just tax system.
That's current law, but here is where parts of things get lost in the
shuffle in that, apparently, the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue
Service doesn't view that as that person's responsibility to make sure,
A, that the Commissioner knows it and, B, that other employees know it.
So what we are doing today, what we are proposing to the House today,
is to put this in a place in the statute that unambiguously says that
this is the responsibility of the Commissioner's. I alluded to a couple
of quotes before, and I want to walk through them with you just briefly
and put it in this context:
What we are talking about, Mr. Speaker, are fundamental rights that
are foundational and that the Congress has put into the Internal
Revenue Code to make sure that taxpayers are protected. This is settled
ground. This is common knowledge. This is a general understanding.
There is no new ground. Nobody is hunting out ahead of the pack here.
This is a very solid doctrine, these 10 enumerated rights.
{time} 1545
The former Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, Douglas
Shulman, said before the Finance Committee in the other body on May 21:
I certainly am not personally responsible for creating a
list that had inappropriate criteria on it. What I know, with
the full facts that are out, is from the inspector general's
[[Page H5212]]
report, which doesn't say I'm responsible for that.
With that said, this happened on my watch, and I very much
regret that it happened on my watch.
He also said this:
I had a partial set of facts, and I knew that the inspector
general was going to be looking into it, and I knew that it
was going to be stopped. Sitting there then and sitting here
today, I think I made the right decision, which is to let the
inspector general get to the bottom of it, chase down all the
facts, and then make his findings public.
We heard, in the Ways and Means Committee, Mr. Speaker, from the
former Acting Commissioner, Steven Miller. He said this:
I think that what happened here was that foolish mistakes
were made by people trying to be more efficient in their
workload selection. The listing described in the report,
while intolerable, was a mistake and was not an act of
partisanship.
Can you imagine how we would all be feeling if somebody came and
there was an officer of the law who said, Well, I know I'm supposed to
read Miranda rights. I know that's what the law says. I know it's
settled doctrine. I know that that's what a defendant expects. But I
was busy. I had a heavy workload. So I chose not to Mirandize the
defendant. I just figured I didn't have enough time.
There are so many things that are going on in this IRS story, there
are so many components and elements of it, much of this is actually
things that we have yet to learn. I think we're marveling every day at
new facts that are coming out, and I think the House has been very
disciplined, frankly, in letting the facts speak for themselves. But
there is a fact, and here it is: there is ambiguity about who is in
charge at the IRS; there is ambiguity about who is responsible at the
IRS. And when the IRS commissioners, both of these recent appointees--
not the current one, but both recent appointees--have the sense of,
Well, the responsibility belongs here and the responsibility belongs
there, I think it is incumbent on the House to say, No, the
responsibility for this lies with the Commissioner of the Internal
Revenue Service, and that's what the plain language of this bill does.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as may consume.
I support this bill, and I think everybody will.
I think we all agree that IRS employees, indeed, should perform their
duties in accordance with the taxpayers' rights outlined in this bill.
These rights have been outlined a number of times in the National
Taxpayer Advocate's annual report to Congress. In fact, Democrats in
the past have introduced legislation to codify these rights, and the
National Taxpayer Advocate's support for codifying these rights dates
back to 2007.
I urge support of this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. ROSKAM. Mr. Speaker, I urge an ``aye'' vote on H.R. 2768, and I
yield back the balance of my time
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Roskam) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 2768, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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