Sen. Boustany: Republicans Ready to Pass 'Taxpayer Bill of Rights'

The House of Representatives will act next week on several initiatives that Republicans say will require more accountability and transparency for the Internal Revenue Service, including passing a "Taxpayer Bill of Rights," Rep. Charles Boustany said in Saturday's GOP address.

As April 15, or "Tax Day" is approaching, the Louisiana Republican said, "Americans need no reminder of how expensive and difficult it is just to be compliant with the law, and no agency elicits more frustration and distrust than the Internal Revenue Service."\

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The "Bill of Rights," a response to the ongoing scandal concerning the agency's targeting of conservative organizations for more scrutiny, includes "common-sense sense steps like requiring the IRS to fire employees that use their position for political purposes, prohibiting the IRS employees from using personal email accounts to conduct official business, and improving access to the courts for groups that feel they’ve been wronged by the IRS."

Republicans are also working to fix the nation's complicated tax code, Boustany said.

"Today, it’s a volumes-long jumble of outdated provisions held together with Scotch tape and glue," Boustany said. "That doesn’t help create jobs, and it doesn’t serve the best interests of the American people."

He told of a town hall meeting held last week in his hometown of Lafayette, La., where a small business owner said that complying with the IRS costs her business, which employs nine people, the equivalent of hiring another new worker.

"And just think, the president’s budget calls for raising taxes by more than $2 trillion, further squeezing families and small businesses who are trying to make ends meet," said Boustany, who is a member of the Ways and Means Committee, which is responsible for setting tax policy.

But in addition to the tax code issues, he said, lawmakers also must address the public's distrust with the IRS itself.

"This agency still operates in the shadow of a scandal in which it admitted to targeting organizations based on their political beliefs," he said. "The investigation is ongoing, but the IRS still refuses to admit that some of its employees engaged in intentional wrongdoing. To successfully carry out its mission, the IRS must be viewed by the American people as an unbiased arbiter of the law. It cannot do that without coming clean."

The House initiatives next week, in addition to requiring more accountability and transparency from the IRS, will provide more tax relief for America's families, Boustany said.

"This is in addition to legislation we’ve already passed to provide permanent tax relief to small businesses, a move that would help create nearly 200,000 jobs," he said.

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