[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 114 (Friday, August 2, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1242]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    THE TAXPAYER RECEIPT ACT OF 2013

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                           HON. JIM McDERMOTT

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, August 2, 2013

  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, taxes are a civic duty essential to 
governance, yet very little information about how that tax money is 
spent is ever sent back to the American people. The awareness gap 
results in significant misinformation and disengagement. For example, a 
2005 Washington Post/Kaiser Foundation poll found that by a margin of 
two to one, Americans believe that the federal government spent more on 
foreign aid than on either Social Security or Medicare.
  For that reason, I am introducing the Taxpayer Receipt Act of 2013 to 
help clarify misconceptions. The Taxpayer Receipt Act requires the 
Treasury Secretary to provide each taxpayer with an annual itemized 
``receipt'' explaining how his or her tax liability was spent and 
include: tables reflecting the taxpayer's income tax liability, the 
amount of the liability spent on each category, and the actual federal 
outlays for each category; a table containing the 10 costliest tax 
expenditures; and, an annual budget review using CBO budget 
projections.
  For an example of what a Taxpayer Receipt would look like, go to: 
http://mcdermott.house.gov/images/pdtitaxpayerreceiptmockupv3.pdf
  Nina Olson, the Taxpayer Advocate who is an independent advocate for 
taxpayers within the IRS, supports this reform and the Washington Post 
and the New York Times have both featured articles that support the 
taxpayer receipt. In 2010, Third Way released an idea brief explaining 
the benefits of such a taxpayer receipt. You can find the entire Third 
Way idea brief here: http://content.thirdway.org/publications/335/
Third_Way_Idea_Brief_-_A_Taxpayer_Receipt.pdf.
  Providing a receipt to taxpayers would be inexpensive and simple to 
implement and similar to the existing Social Security Administration 
statement provided each year. Most importantly, this information 
provides the clarity and transparency that the American people want and 
deserve.

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