Political Quotes

“I want to conclude this discussion of the Senate Finance Committee's work in exposing problems with the IRS by commending the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Roth, for holding the series of hearings to expose problems in the Internal Revenue Service's dealings with taxpayers. I also want to thank the taxpayers and IRS employees who had the courage to come forward and tell their stories publicly. Although we all knew that there were serious problems with the way the IRS does business, it is safe to say that all of us were truly shocked at what we learned from the hearings. As Senator Roth put it, we found that the IRS far too often targets vulnerable taxpayers, treats them with hostility and arrogance, uses unethical and even illegal tactics to collect money that sometimes is not even owed, and uses quotas to evaluate employees. Its effort, obviously, is to try to bring in more money. But I think all of us would agree that it is not an acceptable behavior, and, therefore, clearly that kind of behavior will be dealt with in the legislation which we will be preparing.”