FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 5, 1997
CONTACT: Dana Hagerty 202/225-2165
WASHINGTON, DC -- Congressman Collin C. Peterson (DFL-7th District) today voted to reform the management of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), provide taxpayers with more protections in their dealings with the IRS, and make electronic filing of tax returns easier.
"I am a cosponsor of the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act (H.R. 2676), which grew out of a bipartisan commission charged with making recommendations to the Congress on the need for reform of the IRS," Peterson said. "Under this bill, the IRS would be governed by a new oversight board, comprised of 11 members, 8 of them from the private sector.
"This bill will change the law so that the 'burden of proof' in most cases that go to Tax Court shift from the taxpayer to the IRS," Peterson said. "It will also make it difficult for the IRS to hold a spouse responsible for mistakes made on a return by the other spouse."
The bill also:
* expands to $100,000 the amount of money taxpayers can seek where the IRS negligently disregards tax laws;
* includes a number of provisions aimed at aiding taxpayers subject to IRS audit, including giving tax advisors "attorney-client" privilege before the IRS, and prohibiting the IRS from issuing summons for third-party tax records unless the IRS cannot get the needed information from taxpayer records;
* increases disclosures to the public;
* and requires the IRS to increase electronic filing of returns in the future.
"This bill is just a step in the right direction," Peterson concluded. "Real tax reform needs to happen in the near future, and I am cosponsoring legislation that would sunset the current code and force us to look at replacing it with a simpler and fairer tax system."