Date: 1982-02-04
Speaker: JAMES K. COYNE (republican)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. the Internal Revenue Service an1nounced recently that it will no longer -provide tax preparation services for taxpayers. The IRS will. however. continue to offer that service at its CapItol Hill office. 1 I question this new policy and. I deEplore the exception for Capitol Hill. I support. the Presidents economic recovery plan and I voted to reduce the budget at every reasonable opportunity. Although the elimination of the tax return preparation service is being touted as another method of reducing the budget. the IRS also recently announced that twice as many "taxpayers will be audited In the next i few years as were audited in the past. !This will increase IRS expenditures. I The Commissioner expressed the hope that Increased audits will dissuade tax icheaters and ferret out questionable I tax shelters. I laud this goal. but I question the outcome. I do not doubt that the IRS will disCcover more Irregularities In tax returns after it halts its preparation pro*gram. Miscalculation is understandaIble considering the Incomprehensible nature of the tax forms and the conLstantly changing tax code. There will I be overpayments as well as underpaySments by lawabiding citizens who Iniadvertently miscalculate their Income or tax assessment. The U.S. Treasury iwill lose money it can Ill afford to lose -whenever there is an underpayment and taxpayers will lose money they -can Ill afford to lose whenever there Is -an overpayment. i I do not believe we should save I money by eliminating this service - which provided benefits to both the rGovernment and the taxpayer. Furthermore. the exception for CapI itol Hill Is ludicrous. Congressmen are 3able to complete their tax returns as I well as other Americans. In fact. they t may be more able since Congressmen I can use the mnoney they are not paying 3in taxes to obtain professional tax assistance. Congress already receives too many perquisites. from reducedprice haircuts in the House barbershop to tax breaks which. in effect. exclude many of us from almost any tax liability. We have earned a reputation for excluding ourselves from any painful lawsmy constituents noticed that when the Government shut down on November 23. Congress did not. having carefully passed its own appropriations billand this is one more example of Congress putting itself above the citizens we serve. The IRS exists not just to collect taxes but also to serve the taxpayers. The elimination of this seivice harms the taxpayer. especially the middleclass taxpayer who. in spite of his 5percent tax reduction. has become disillusioned watching more and more money going to feed the seemingly insatiable appetite of Uncle Sam. The exclusion for those of us on Capitol Hill gives the impression that Government agencies provide different. "special" treatment for Congressmen. We are not special. We. above all. should be required to suffer fObe consequences of our actions. I believe that the budget reductions we approved last year were necessary. I also believe that we in Congress must exhibit some responsibility for those reductions by sharing with the rest of the country the effects of our economic decisions.