IV

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 148

Expressing the sense of the Congress that the Internal Revenue Code of

1986 must be replaced with a new, low, single-rate system that is

simple and fair, allowing the Internal Revenue Service, as we know

it, to be abolished.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 1, 1999

Mr. BONILLA (for himself, Mr. ADERHOLT, Mr. ARMEY, Mr. BAKER, Mr.

BARR of Georgia, Mr. BARTON of Texas, Mr. BLUNT, Mr. BOEHNER, Mr.

BRADY of Texas, Mr. BRYANT, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. BUYER, Mr.

CALLAHAN, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. CAMPBELL, Mr. CANADY of Florida, Mr.

CANNON, Mr. CHAMBLISS, Mrs. CHENOWETH, Mr. COBURN, Mr. COLLINS, Mr. COMBEST, Mr. COX, Mrs. CUBIN, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr.

DEAL of Georgia, Mr. DICKEY, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mr. EHLERS, Mrs.

EMERSON, Mr. FORBES, Mr. GRAHAM, Ms. GRANGER, Mr. HASTINGS of

Washington, Mr. HEFLEY, Mr. HOSTETTLER, Mr. HUTCHINSON, Mr.

ISTOOK, Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. KINGSTON, Mr. KNOLLENBERG, Mr. LATHAM, Mr. LINDER, Mr. LUCAS of Oklahoma, Mr.

MCINTOSH, Mr. METCALF, Mr. GARY MILLER of California, Mrs.

MYRICK, Mr. NETHERCUTT, Mrs. NORTHUP, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr. PACKARD, Mr. PAUL, Mr. PICKERING, Mr. POMBO, Ms. PRYCE of Ohio, Mr.

RADANOVICH, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. ROGAN, Mr. SCARBOROUGH, Mr.

SCHAFFER, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. SHADEGG, Mr. SKEEN, Mr. SMITH of

Texas, Mr. SMITH of Michigan, Mr. SUNUNU, Mr. TANCREDO, Mr. TAUZIN, Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina, Mr. THORNBERRY, Mr. TIAHRT, Mr.

UPTON, Mr. WAMP, Mr. WATTS of Oklahoma, and Mr. WICKER) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the

Committee on Ways and Means

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the Congress that the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 must be replaced with a new, low,
2

•HCON 148 IH

single-rate system that is simple and fair, allowing the

Internal Revenue Service, as we know it, to be abolished.

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring),

3 SECTION 1. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS THAT THE INTER4 NAL REVENUE CODE OF 1986 MUST BE RE5 PLACED WITH A NEW, LOW, SINGLE-RATE

6 SYSTEM THAT IS SIMPLE AND FAIR, ALLOW7 ING THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, AS

8 WE KNOW IT, TO BE ABOLISHED.

9 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—

10 (1) the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (‘‘the

11 tax code’’) is unnecessarily complex, having grown

12 from 14 pages at its inception to 4,896 pages by

13 1999;

14 (2) this complexity resulted in taxpayers spend15 ing about 5,300,000,000 hours and

16 $225,000,000,000 trying to comply with the tax

17 code in 1996;

18 (3) the current congressional budgetary process

19 is weighted too heavily toward tax increases, as evi20 denced by the fact that since 1954 there have been

21 27 major bills enacted that increased Federal income

22 taxes and only 10 bills that decreased Federal in23 come taxes;
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•HCON 148 IH

1 (4) the tax burden on working families has

2 reached an unsustainable level, with families spend3 ing more on total taxes than on food, clothing, and

4 shelter combined; it is also evidenced by the fact

5 that in 1948 the average American family with chil6 dren paid only 4.3 percent of its income to the Fed7 eral Government in direct taxes while today the av8 erage family pays over 20 percent;

9 (5) the tax code unfairly penalizes savings and

10 investment by double taxing these activities; and as

11 a result it reduces the national savings rate, limiting

12 economic prosperity, job creation, and retirement se13 curity, thus forcing American families to surrender

14 control of their finances to the Federal Government;

15 (6) the tax code stifles economic growth by dis16 couraging work and capital formation through exces17 sively high tax rates;

18 (7) Congress and the President have found it

19 necessary, on 3 separate occasions, to enact laws to

20 protect taxpayers from the abuses of the Internal

21 Revenue Service;

22 (8) the complexity of the tax code has increased

23 the number of Internal Revenue Service employees

24 responsible for administering the tax laws to 98,000,
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•HCON 148 IH

1 and the IRS costs the taxpayers over

2 $6,000,000,000 each year; and

3 (9) the support of the President for broad tax

4 reform is essential for passage of such legislation.

5 (b) SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.—It is the sense of

6 the Congress that—

7 (1) the Internal Revenue Service, as we know

8 it, must be abolished, and the Internal Revenue

9 Code of 1986 must be replaced with a new, simple,

10 and fair tax system that reduces taxes and applies

11 a single, low rate to all Americans; and

12 (2) the President should submit to Congress a

13 comprehensive proposal to reform the Internal Rev14 enue Code of 1986 by April 1, 2000.

Æ