Paul Coverdell: “I thank my good friend. Over the past several years, all of us have seen news accounts of regular, average citizens who…”

“I thank my good friend. Over the past several years, all of us have seen news accounts of regular, average citizens who have become the targets of grueling IRS audits. These individuals were neither wealthy nor powerful; in fact, they were most often ordinary, law-abiding taxpayers who earned a modest wage, ran a small business, or operated a family farm. Some struggled just to make ends meet, and many were understandably confused about what wrong they had committed to justify the scrutiny of the IRS. The truth is they committed no wrong. They were simply unfortunate victims of a scandalous IRS practice called 'random audits,' where the IRS just picks people out of a hat in the hope it can uncover some wrongdoing. A recent report produced by the General Accounting Office at my request confirms that the IRS has been targeting thousands of poor taxpayers and small businesses for random audits. In fact, almost 95 percent of all random audits performed between 1994 and 1996 were conducted on individual taxpayers who earned less than $25,000 each year.”