Even the provisions of the Tax Reform Act of 1976, paltry as they are, have been under constant attack since they were enacted. Last December 14, under the bland title of Taxpayer Privacy Issues, the true subject under discussion was basically the repeal of the 1976 act because it had proved an inconvenience to the IRS. As unpalatable as the truth may be, the Congress has acted as the IRS protection club. No allegation, no matter how heinous, against the IRS has ever been thoroughly investigated. I retain the concern that too often we as Members are protected from the actual sitution by an ovezealous staff whose jobs do not depend directly on the decision of a concerned electorate. Let me tell you what has been happening. After I had written my book on IRS abuses, CBS came to me and expressed an interest in doing a segment of 60 Minutes on the same subject. We discussed my continuing work on the IRS abuses and the CBS representative went on his way. Several days later, the same man from CBS called to tell me that they had almost decided to scrap the IRS project but had now reversed their thinking and were going to do the segment. He told me that the problem had developed when he had consulted members of the staff at Ways and Means where he was told that I was not reliable and that in those instances where there was some truth to my allegations, that they were old and had long since been corrected. The CBS man then told me that he had independently checked some of my allegations anyway and found them to be accurate and sufficient to justify their proceeding with what turned out to be months of investigations and public statements by several past and present IRS employees supporting my charges against the agency. On the Monday after that 60 Minutes segment was aired, on November 15, 1981, the producer of the segment called me to describe a phone call he had received from a member of the Ways and Means staff. He told me that the staffer had demanded the names and addresses of everyone whom CBS had interviewed for the program, and that the demand constituted "an official order." To be sure I had heard right, I had my staff attorney call the producer back to have him repeat the story. He was told the same story in detail. Disturbed that such a demand should have been made, I wrote to the full committee chairman, Mr. Rostenkowski, about it. A copy of that letter and his reply is in the dossier. I do not for 1 minute doubt the integrity and truthfulness of the committee chairman, but I am certain that the demand was made and that the CBS producer was being pressured by someone at Ways and Means on behalf of the IRS. It is my perception that the taxpayer will no longer credit the good will of the IRS or of the Congress. They perceive themselves to be oppressed by the system created by Congress and administered by the IRS. Everything I have learned confirms to me that the system is unfair and is loaded against the middle- and lowerincome people. The administration of that system is authoritarian and approaches the totalitarian. Although I have used the term Gestapo to describe the IRS collection practices, I was not the first. Senator Long described the same phenomenon in precisely the same words almost 20 years ago, just before the IRS ended his political career by smear tactics. And the charge was repeated frequently by the past and present IRS emplyees themselves in the 60 Minutes interview. In all that 20 years, no real meaningful attempt has been made by Congress to bring the agency under control. Whom are the people to blame if not us? How must they view it, when after a 2year campaign to expose the abuses of the IRS, the sole congressional response is to pass a tax deduction benefit for themselves which has the even more alarming effect of protecting the Congress from the IRS auditors while leaving the taxpayer to his fate? [Applause.] Chairman RANGEL. The chairman would like to remind the spectators that while these are public hearings, only the witnesses will be allowed to testify, and we have to carry out very carefully the House rules about having audible displays in the hearing rooms. It is for the tradition and integrity of the hearings and the Congress. Thank you. Mr. HANSEN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. A $75-a-day automatic expense deduction, instead of the painful itemizing required of the public, sure keeps the IRS out of a Congressman's private file and off his back, but is it any wonder that people are furious as we set ourselves up as some sort of royalty immune from the laws everyone else has to live by. Should we really be surprised that there are protesters and resisters? Frankly, I am surprised that there are not more. I have introduced H.R. 4931, the Taxpayer Protection Act [TPA], which is aimed at reducing the powers of the IRS to those of any other creditor against any other debtor. The principal thrust of this bill, which now has over 100 cosponsors of the broadest possible political philosophy, is simply to bring the IRS under control. And with the Taxpayer Protection Act, I have also introduced companion legislation H.R. 4821, the Tax Simplification Act [TSA], a single-rate tax plan which will end the preferential treatment for Congress and for the rich and for everyone else, reduce the incentives for tax evasion, and restore the confidence of the average citizen in the fairness of the tax system. Mr. Chairman, we want people to pay their taxes. We want them to pay fair taxes, to pay their share, but I feel that the Internal Revenue Service has had a very crude and raw misuse of their manpower, and to give them more manpower to do nothing but harass people is not going to collect more money for the Treasury. I think we all know that this Government has to have the funds to operate on, and we need to get to that $95 billion, or whatever it is, in the underground economy that is due Uncle Sam, but we need to do it in a way that is going to be productive, not counterproductive. Mr. Chairman, it is time to act. Thank you. [Mr. Hansen submitted the following:] To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 to regulate and limit collection procedures of the Internal Revenue Service in order to provide protection of taxpayer civil rights, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOVEMBER 10, 1981 Mr. HANSEN of Idaho introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to the Committees on Ways and Means and the Judiciary A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 to regulate and limit collection procedures of the Internal Revenue Service in order to provide protection of taxpayer civil rights, and for other purposes. 1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 4 5 Act". This Act may be cited as the "Taxpayer Protection Association of Concerned Taxpayers 418 C St., NE Capitol Hill Carriage House Washington, D.C. 20002 United States of America Congressional Record PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 97th CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION Vol 128 WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 1982 House of Representatives THE IRS STRIKES THE IRS STRIKES HON. GEORGE HANSEN OF IDAHO IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Tuesday, March 23, 1982 Mr. HANSEN of Idaho. Mr. Speaker, I have been outraged by the overzealous and heavy-handed tactics adopted by the Internal Revenue Service in their tax collection practices. For a number of years I have been receiving mail from across the Nation from honest taxpaying citizens complaining of undue harassment by this agency, This public outcry has prompted the introduction of H.R. 4931, the Taxpayer Protection Act (TPA). Very simply, my legislation requires the IRS to op. erate within the law and respect the fundamental constitutional rights of the taxpayer. This long-awaited relief is needed to restore integrity to our tax collection system and to rebuild the public's con. fidence in its elected officials. The abuse of citizens has been documented in all walks of life from Congressmen to doctors, farmers, attorneys, accountants, waitresses, industrial workers, and so forth. Today, as an E 1250 A SOUTHERN MAYOR example, I submit a letter from a mayor of a Southern city telling of his story of harassment. DEAR SIR: I read with much Interest the attached news article about giving needed relief in cases of proven harassment by the Internal Revenue Service. After viewing the national T.V. program 60 Minutes" on November 16, 1981, I realized Congress certainly needs to check into our LR.S. System. Without any previous notice or contact from the IRS, I had two special agents from the Criminal Division of this agency come into my office and read me my rights. They proceeded to question me as a crimi nal because of a previous association in land sales with a partner who did not file a tax return. I have always filed my tax returns on what I consider to be a fair and legal basis. Never until this day have I been contacted by the Civil Division of the IRS. requesting financial information or an audit to see if I have paid the proper amount of tax. Although there is no evidence that I have ever defrauded the government, these so-called special agents from the 1.R.S. in Iname of city withheld), have all but "drummed me from office" and ruined me and my family. Consequently. I have had little recourse but to sit back and observe this total injustice. I did immediately contact my local ac countant and attorney. They admitted as to never seeing this approach from the IRS. and stated that it would be advisable if I sought help from expert tax attorneys in (name of city withheld). This legal advice has already cost me $5,000 and could run as No. 30 high as $25,000 before the Criminal Division decides if it has a case or not. My attorney has advised me to have no contact with these special agents, because anything that I might say could be used against me. He explained that there are now 36 special agents operating in [name of State withheld) alone trying to originate criminal cases to justify the existence of their jobs. After serving my country in combat during World War II and my community as Mayor for 20 years, with a record that speaks for itself, I have to sit back and sait while these special agents use their unethi cal tactics. They have been to all local banks and business associates with whom I have had any dealings and dropped libelous hints to the local newspaper. In this small city of 14,000 people, these special agents have insinuated to local citizens that as their Mayor, I have acted as a criminal with no regard for mine or my family's reputation. A man can be ruined by such malicious insinuation regardless of the eventual out CONGRESSIONAL RECORD- Extensions of Remarks - E 1206 March 24, 1982 THE IRS STRIKES A MIDWEST DOCTOR THE IRS STRIKES AGAIN HON. GEORGE HANSEN OF IDAHO IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES • Mr. HANSEN of Idaho. Mr. Speak. er, another example of the heavyhanded and abusive tactics of the Internal Revenue Service in their tax collection practices, which would be stopped by passage of H.R. 4931, the Taxpayer Protection Act (TPA), is the following letter from a doctor in the Midwest. On November 15, I had an opportunity to watch a presentation by 60 Minutes in regard to the unfair tactics used by the IRS against the citizens of the USA. The reason I am writing this letter is because during this show, it was pointed out that several legislators in the past had tried to investigate them, and they. themselves were ruined politically because of it. I have been audited every year since 1966, and I would have to say that for the most part. I was always treated very fairly and gentlemanly, My last auditor however, made statements like "I am the judge, the jury and the prosecutor". I can prove this, as my accountant and my wife were present at the time. He also stated it would do me no good to take my case to court, as the IRS could overrule the court, regardless of what the court's findings were. Last of all, he stated that if I were to hire an attorney, it would be a total waste of time because he, as the IRS agent, would have the final say so about everything. |