    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
    [July 30, 1996]
    [Pages 1230-1231]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1230]]

    Remarks on Signing the Taxpayer Bill of Rights 2 and an Exchange With
    Reporters
    July 30, 1996

        The President. Thank you very much. Mr. Secretary, Commissioner
    Richardson, Congresswoman Johnson, thank you for all your hard work on
    this. Senator Baucus, Senator Reid, Congressman Matsui, former
    Congressman Jake Pickle. You look like you're right where you belong,
    standing up here with everybody else today, Jake. [Laughter] We are glad
    to see you.
        I would like to say a special word of thanks to Senator Grassley,
    who was not able to come at the last moment, for his hard work on this,
    and a special word of thanks to my longtime friend David Pryor, who has
    been on this mission to improve the IRS and make it work better for
    taxpayers for more than 10 years now. I'm glad to say that we are, I
    hope, nearly finishing the work that he started out on before he leaves
    the Senate. And I thank you for all you've done, sir.
        I want to applaud the leadership of the Republicans and the
    Democrats in the House and the Senate who worked so hard for this bill.
    If my memory is right, the bill passed unanimously in the House and by
    voice vote in the Senate. And it happened because we all worked together
    in a good spirit of bipartisanship toward a common goal.
        Nobody likes to pay taxes anyway, but it's also a fact that the
    taxes pay for our national defense, our schools, our roads, our
    transportation systems, our police, and so much more that we depend upon
    every day. Still, the taxpayers have a right to feel that every one of
    their hard-earned dollars they give up actually works for them, and we
    have to make sure that the IRS doesn't tangle the American people up in
    redtape, that it is not arbitrary, and that taxpayers are treated with
    the respect to which they are entitled. We're getting there.
        More than 70 percent of our taxpayers already pay at the 15 percent
    rate. Many of them use a form that finally lives up to its name. The
    1040EZ form is really now easy to understand and to follow. It's one
    page long, and you don't even need to do that. If you're eligible to
    file the EZ form, you now have the option of filing without any
    paperwork at all; all you have to do is pick up the phone. Of the more
    than 20 million people eligible to file the EZ form, more than 2.8
    million file by phone in under 10 minutes. Now, that would be the
    ultimate in tax simplification if we could do it for everyone.
        Many other taxpayers file on-line. This year, more than 12 percent
    of all our filers, nearly 15 million Americans, filed their individual
    returns electronically and got their refunds as soon as 3 weeks. People
    who file the old-fashioned way, on paper and in the mail, got their
    refunds in about 40 days, longer than I would like but just half the
    time it took just a few years ago. Eight and a half million electronic
    filers took advantage of a new direct deposit of refunds, and their
    refunds went directly to their bank accounts in as little as 10 days. So
    filing taxes is getting simpler, quicker, and clearly that's better for
    the American people.
        We're trying to inject more common sense and fairness into the
    process. As the Secretary said, the legislation passed 8 years ago, the
    first taxpayer bill of rights, set the groundwork. But with this
    legislation today we take the next step in the right direction. The
    least we can do for consumers is to see that they're treated
    professionally, fairly, and judiciously.
        As the Secretary said, this bill has 41 recommendations. When the
    bill was formed, we looked at it, and we decided we could implement
    something over a third of them by administrative order, which we have
    done. The rest of them do require legislation, and now every subsequent
    administration will be bound by all of them because it is becoming the
    law of the land.
        This taxpayer bill of rights applies to almost every situation in
    which the IRS and taxpayers deal with each other. Here are some examples
    of what it does: First, it truly empowers the taxpayer advocate office
    at the IRS with increased authority to help taxpayers to resolve
    disputes, get refunds for people facing hardships, and to stop
    collection actions. Second, the bill requires the IRS to inform divorced
    or separated spouses when it attempts to collect joint taxes from the
    other spouse. Third, it will make it easier to appeal tax liens. Fourth,
    it

    [[Page 1231]]

    makes it easier for taxpayers to recover attorney fees if improper
    action has been taken against them. And fifth, a taxpayer would have a
    longer grace period to make a tax payment without owing any interest.
    These are just some of the things that this good bill does.
        The legislation is truly a leap forward. With the taxpayer bill of
    rights we say to America's taxpayers, when you deal with the IRS, you
    also have privileges, and we respect them. You have protection, and we
    will help to provide it. You have rights, and we will shield them. Your
    rights as a taxpayer, plain and simple, your rights will be protected;
    your privacy will be honored; you will be treated with courtesy; you are
    entitled to representation; you pay only what you owe by law, no more
    and no less; you're entitled to get help with special problems; you have
    the right to appeal your case, even to court; and you can be relieved of
    penalties if you acted in good faith, even if you made an honest
    mistake. The IRS Commissioner is putting this declaration at the very
    front of the main publication that goes to every taxpayer the IRS
    contacts.
        This legislation represents an important step in our ongoing efforts
    to improve the system from the point of view of the taxpayer. After all,
    they not only pay the bills, they are ultimately the bosses of this
    country, and they're entitled to be treated with respect and fairness.
    Our people work hard for what they have. Our goal is to let them know
    that their Government is working hard, too, to give them the best
    service it can and the fairest tax treatment it can.
        It's an honor to sign the taxpayer bill of rights. And once again, I
    ask that we all join in giving these Members of Congress a round of
    applause for the work they did. Thank you. [Applause]

    [At this point, the President signed the legislation.]

        Q. Mr. President, do you think taxpayers have not been treated with
    respect in this country?
        The President. I think that we haven't done as good a job as we
    should have done, and I think that this bill will help us to do a better
    job. I think that the taxpayer bill of rights 8 years ago was an
    important step. And I think these 41 or so steps embodied in this bill
    will say to the American people, look, you're legally bound to pay the
    taxes you owe and collecting them is never going to be a perfect
    process, but we're going to bend over backwards to treat you fairly and
    treat you with respect. And I think that's a pretty good message. And I
    do think that there are too many Americans that have some example where
    they think that was not the case at sometime in the past. And we're just
    trying to get better at what we do, and this will help.

    Welfare Reform

        Q. Mr. President, we know you're waiting to see the final conference
    report on welfare reform, but can you tell us based on what you know now
    about what the committee's done on legal immigrants, food stamps, and
    vouchers? Is this bill getting more signable, or is there still a chance
    you'll veto it?
        The President. From what I understand, they've made some good
    progress today. And I've been, you know, meeting with President Mubarak
    so I haven't gotten a report in the last hour or so. But I understand
    they're making good progress. And I hope that they will--we just need to
    keep the kids in mind. We need to keep the children in mind. The
    children need to come out ahead. What we want for poor families, I'll
    say again, is what we want for middle class families and for upper
    income families. We want people to be able to succeed at raising their
    kids and at work. It's the biggest dilemma middle class people have in
    America today, how can they succeed at work and in raising their kids.
    And that's what we want for poor families.
        So whatever system we adopt to reform welfare, the budgetary
    considerations in the nonwelfare items in the bill shouldn't swamp our
    objective of ultimately uplifting the children of the country. That's
    what we're working for. It's getting better, and I hope that we can work
    it out. I really do.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:40 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the
    White House. In his remarks, he referred to former Representative James
    Jarrell (Jake) Pickle of Texas. H.R. 2337, approved July 30, was
    assigned Public Law No. 104-168.