[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 4526]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 TAXPAYER IDENTITY THEFT PROTECTION ACT

  (Mrs. WAGNER asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, the Federal Trade Commission recently 
ranked the St. Louis metropolitan area, my district and hometown, as 
having the highest rate of identity theft regarding Federal income tax 
returns. This is absolutely unacceptable and why I introduced the 
Taxpayer Identity Theft Protection Act.
  My legislation would require the IRS to issue an identity protection 
personal identification number, or IP PIN, to any individual who 
requests one to better protect their Social Security numbers from 
criminals who are looking to steal their identity and file fraudulent 
tax returns.
  Missourians and all Americans deserve peace of mind when filing their 
taxes with the IRS, but, instead, we are seeing an unconscionable 
increase in data breaches and identity theft.
  A new GAO report found many deficiencies in the IRS' security program 
that blatantly expose taxpayers' personal and financial data. My 
legislation will help stop this reckless exposure.
  This essential bill holds the IRS accountable and forces the agency 
to do the most important job: assist and protect taxpayers.
  At a time when trust in government is so low, I am committed to 
fixing this growing problem and providing another level of security to 
protect Americans from fraudulent activity.

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