Dale Bumpers: “Senator, if I could just make one last comment. This is not in defense of the IRS, just simply an observation. The truth…”

“Senator, if I could just make one last comment. This is not in defense of the IRS, just simply an observation. The truth of the matter is a lot of people resent the taxes they have to pay. That is a given. My salary is paid by the taxpayers, but every April 15 I get a little vexed, just like every other taxpayer does, about what I have to pay. But having said that, I think it would be remiss if we didn't point out that we lose $100 billion a year in taxes to the Federal Treasury by people who defraud the system, the underground economy. Consider the fact that 1997, this year, the people of this country will pay about $650 billion in personal income tax. The corporate tax, as you know, yields much less than that. But just take the personal income tax. If we are losing $100 billion from people who absolutely refuse to live by the law--and that is who IRS ought to be after, of course--that is one of the reasons the rest of us have to pay more, because a lot of people don't. I just wanted to make that point and to say I think the IRS generally tries its best to collect the appropriate amount of taxes. The thing that gets all of us in more trouble than anything else is when honest, hard-working people are pilloried by a bureaucratic agent or auditor from the IRS. The agent may be right. It is usually not so much a question of whether the agent is right or not; it is their conduct that is offensive to people, and that is one of the reasons their public relations is so poor.”