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House Republicans Work to Restore Accountability to IRS

April 18, 2016

Today is America’s least favorite day of the year – Tax Day. As taxpayers put the finishing touches on their tax returns, House Republicans are working to pass a package of bills designed to restore accountability to the IRS and make the agency more responsive and friendly to taxpayers.

  • H.R. 4903 will permanently prohibit the use of funds by the IRS to target U.S. citizens for exercising their First Amendment rights.
    • Last month, a federal appeals court ordered the IRS to turn over documents related to its targeting of conservative organizations. This bill aims to ensure that such targeting can never be repeated.
  • H. Res. 673 urges the IRS to resume providing free printed copies of IRS Publication 17 (Instructions on how to file a tax return) to taxpayers.
  • H.R. 4885 will make the spending of user fees collected by the IRS subject to the annual appropriations process.
    • Currently, the IRS can spend these user fees without any oversight.
  • H.R. 1206 will prohibit the IRS from hiring any new employees until the Treasury Department certifies that no IRS worker has serious tax delinquencies.
  • H.R. 3724 will prohibit the IRS from rehiring former employees who were terminated for misconduct.
  • H.R. 4890 will ban the payment of bonuses to IRS employees until the agency develops a comprehensive customer service strategy.

NRCC COMMENT: “While Democrats make excuses and defend misconduct, House Republicans are leading the charge to make the IRS more accountable and more responsive to American taxpayers. This package of legislation will help to restore accountability, and make the IRS more taxpayer friendly.” – Bob Salera, NRCC Spokesman

Background:

Four Bills Demanding More Accountability From The IRS Pass Committee. GOP lawmakers on the House Ways and Means Committee advanced four bills designed to deal with the Internal Revenue Services’ major incompetencies during a markup Wednesday, just ahead of tax day. “Americans send a significant portion of their hard-earned dollars to the IRS every April. They deserve an IRS that is committed to delivering the highest level of customer service to American taxpayers,” Committee Chairman Kevin Brady said in his opening remarks. “That’s what each of our bills is about today – making the IRS accountable to the American people. Americans send a significant portion of their hard-earned dollars to the IRS every April.” (Juliegrace Brufke, The Daily Caller, 4/14/16)

 Court rebukes IRS for tea party targeting, orders release of secret list. “A federal appeals court spanked the IRS Tuesday, saying it has taken laws designed to protect taxpayers from the government and turned them on their head, using them to try to protect the tax agency from the very tea party groups it targeted. The judges ordered the IRS to quickly turn over the full list of groups it targeted so that a class-action lawsuit, filed by the NorCal Tea Party Patriots, can proceed. The judges also accused the Justice Department lawyers, who are representing the IRS in the case, of acting in bad faith — compounding the initial targeting — by fighting the disclosure.” (Stephen Dinan, The Washington Times, 3/22/16)

House Weekly Schedule – Week of April 18th