[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 41 (Thursday, March 7, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1727-S1728]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                             Filing Season

  Mr. President, on the subject of taxes, we are now in our sixth week 
of the tax filing season. Over 50 million Americans have filed their 
tax returns. As in previous years, the IRS is moving forward in the 
filing season at a pace very consistent with previous years. In some 
aspects, they are exceeding benchmarks set by last year's filing 
season. This has been one of the most scrutinized filing seasons I can 
remember. In some ways, that is understandable.
  As I have alluded to, this is the first filing season after our Tax 
Code received the largest overhaul in three decades. After the massive 
tax bill we passed, you would expect some difficulties. The filing 
season began shortly after our government experienced the longest 
shutdown in history. So the longest shutdown in history, added to the 
fact that we have a new tax bill, makes this tax filing season very 
different. Despite these factors, this filing season has run relatively 
smoothly.
  Consistent with previous years, the IRS has processed over 95 percent 
of the returns the Agency received, and 80 percent of those returns 
were sent a refund. Based on data covering returns filed through 
February 22 of this year, over $121 billion in refunds have been 
returned to the American taxpayers, with an average refund of $3,143.
  This is up slightly over the 2018 filing season. I only mention this 
because some of the media and some here in the Congress have been 
obsessing over the size of refunds.
  As I pointed out many times, obsessing over the average size of 
refunds is simply wrongheaded and misleading. A week-to-week focus on 
the size of tax refunds makes no sense, given how wildly refunds can 
vary early in the filing season.
  Recent filing season data makes this very clear. Within a week, the 
average size of refunds went from being down 17 percent to being a 
little over 1 percent higher than last year so far this filing season.
  We have over 5 weeks of filing season to go. I expect there will 
continue to be variations in the data. Most importantly, the size of 
the tax refund is a stupid barometer of how taxpayers are faring this 
season compared to last--in other words, whether they had a tax 
increase or a tax decrease as a result of the tax bill of December 
2017.
  A refund merely represents the extent to which a taxpayer has 
overpaid their taxes during the course of the year. It absolutely 
provides no insight into whether a taxpayer's tax burden has gone up 
or, for that matter, down.
  I hope the relative silence in the media about the filing season data 
released at the end of last week indicates that that media and Members 
of Congress who have complained about it finally come to understand all 
of this--that a refund up or down has nothing to do with whether you 
have a tax increase or decrease. Any further swings up or down will not 
generate sensational headlines that only confuse and misinform 
taxpayers. Those headlines have misled the American people.
  I hope this recent data will help put to rest accusations of some of 
my Democratic colleagues that the IRS sought to manipulate withholding 
tables to goose paychecks in 2018, because nothing could be further 
from the truth.
  The primary objective of the IRS in updating withholding tables was 
for a very sound reason of making sure that they are as accurate as 
possible. A report by the Government Accountability Office bears this 
out. In fact, there is not a single indication in the GAO report to 
suggest otherwise.
  The IRS followed the same process and procedures in updating 
withholding tables this year as it has in the previous years. Moreover, 
the report documents the extensive outreach that Treasury and the IRS 
conducted to inform taxpayers of the changes and to suggest that 
taxpayers check their withholding.
  Their outreach included updating and creating pages on their website 
using IRS email LISTSERVs and social media campaigns and sharing 
withholding materials with partners, including tax-related groups, 
large employers, employer associations, and organizations representing 
small businesses. So you see, they went to great lengths to alert the 
public to observe changes in the tax tables.
  However, no withholding table has been or ever will be perfect. 
Common sense dictates that. Every wage earner may be affected a little 
differently under the new law based on his or her personal 
circumstances. Because of personal circumstances, if there are 157 
million tax filings, then, there could be 157 million different 
answers.
  The IRS continues to consider whether future improvements to the 
withholding structure may be necessary. I support these efforts and 
will monitor the outcome as chairman of the tax-writing Finance 
Committee.
  If the tables had not been updated, my guess is that our colleagues 
on the other side of the aisle would be singing a different tune. 
Instead of criticizing efforts to ensure that withholding tables more 
accurately reflect the new law, they would be claiming that we were 
trying to back-load the tax benefits, tricking taxpayers into believing 
their tax cut was larger than it was through oversized refunds.
  This actually may have been the right thing to do politically, but it 
would have been wrong, as a matter of principle or tax policy, and, 
quite

[[Page S1728]]

frankly, an organization like the IRS, usually far removed from 
politics, would not be involved in a political scheme like that.
  One exception to that is how the IRS, under Ms. Lerner, treated 
conservative organizations during the 2010, 2011, and 2012 years.
  The excess tax withheld from paychecks throughout the course of the 
year doesn't belong to the government. That is common sense. That 
belongs to the taxpayers who earned it. The government shouldn't 
intentionally withhold more than necessary.
  I am proud of the work my colleagues did to update the Tax Code last 
Congress. We delivered meaningful tax relief to middle-income taxpayers 
and to job creators. This has contributed to strong economic growth 
benefitting all Americans, hopefully, for years to come.
  The Treasury Department and the IRS has done good work to implement 
the law in a timely fashion. They will continue that good work to 
ensure that Americans receive their refunds as quickly as possible.
  As we progress toward the end of the filing season in April, the data 
being reported will fluctuate as taxpayers across a range of 
circumstances submit their returns. I hope that every time there is 
movement in the data, our friends across the aisle, and, more 
importantly, the misleading media will keep in mind two important facts 
that I mentioned earlier. First, tracking refund data on a weekly basis 
makes no sense, given how widely the data can vary. Second, and lastly, 
the focus on the size of the refunds is wrongheaded since it provides 
no indication as to whether a taxpayer's tax bill has gone up or down 
between 2018 filings and 2019 filings.
  Most everyone was oddly silent when the last batch of good data was 
released. So maybe we will not hear any more of this misleading 
information from the media. I hope we can have a more responsible and 
accurate discussion in the weeks ahead.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.