Taxpayer First Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. LaHOOD. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Chairwoman Jenkins for yielding the time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5444, the Taxpayer First Act.

As I travel around my district, one of the common concerns that I hear and complaints that I hear is that the IRS is not user friendly, that it is not attentive and isn't efficient, effective, and accountable. We do a lot with this bill here today to change that. This is a good piece of legislation.

I would like to thank Chairwoman Jenkins as well as Ranking Member Lewis for their hard work and leadership throughout the drafting of this legislation.

Over the past several months, the House Ways and Means Committee and the Oversight Subcommittee, in particular, on which I serve, have focused on finding bipartisan legislative solutions which will make much-needed changes at the IRS. Ensuring an efficient, accountable, and transparent IRS is key to restoring the trust between taxpayers and the agency. It is also necessary for effective implementation of our reformed Tax Code.

We have a responsibility to provide taxpayers with the tools and resources they need to make filing their taxes simpler, which was also a major goal of tax reform.

We must ensure that the IRS puts customer service first so that taxpayers can have confidence that their information is protected and that we upgrade the IRS technology for the 21st century.

Unfortunately, it has been over 20 years since major reforms were made to the IRS, but through the passage of this legislation and others on the floor this week, we have an opportunity to finally bring about these changes.

I am also pleased that the Taxpayer First Act includes H.R. 5342, the Improving Assistance for Taxpayers Act, which I authored and introduced as part of this process.

Currently, the Office of the Taxpayer Advocate, located within the IRS, represents taxpayer interests and helps address both individual and systemic issues at the agency.

When it comes to addressing systemic issues, the Taxpayer Advocate can issue what is called a Taxpayer Advocate Directive. Unfortunately, these orders are not always responded to in a detailed and timely manner or even addressed at all.

My bill aims to improve this process. Specifically, the IRS would be required to respond to Taxpayer Advocate Directives within 90 days. We also establish an appeals process when the advocate deems necessary. If detailed and timely responses are not provided, the Taxpayer Advocate must report such instances to the Congress. These changes will improve accountability and ensure substantive and timely answers for taxpayers dealing with an issue at the IRS.

Mr. Speaker, after two decades and with a new Tax Code to be implemented, the time is now to improve the Internal Revenue Service through these bipartisan and commonsense reforms. We need to continue our work in putting taxpayers first, and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 5444.

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