Sam Gibbons: “tucked away deep inside the $128 billion in new Federal taxes in President Clinton's new budget proposal is a $529…”

“tucked away deep inside the $128 billion in new Federal taxes in President Clinton's new budget proposal is a $529 million increase in the salaries for the Internal Revenue Service. That is right, Mr. Speaker. The IRS, the same out-of-control rogue Federal agency that has trampled the constitutional rights of millions of American citizens, is getting a pay raise. We are all familiar with the saying, ``if it is not broke, do not fix.'' However, someone needs to introduce this administration and my liberal colleagues to the concept that if it is broke, do not reward them with a half a billion dollar pay raise out of the pockets of the American taxpayers. In light of recent reports of taxpayer abuse by IRS agents, the President promised swift action. If a half a billion dollar pay raise is swift action, I would hate to see just what his long-range corrective action would entail. Thomas Sowell, a noted economist, once said, ``It is easy to be wrong, and to persist in being wrong, when the costs of being wrong are paid for by others.''”