Peter Roskam: “Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for yielding. Mr. Speaker, it is a very sobering thing to get a letter from the Internal…”

“Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for yielding. Mr. Speaker, it is a very sobering thing to get a letter from the Internal Revenue Service and to not know what is inside. It is one thing if you go to the mailbox, and it is one of those ones that is a little bit colorful, and you say, Hey, that is a tax refund in there, and isn't that a delightful piece of mail? Everybody is happy to see that. Yet, when you get one of those other ones that is black and white and has all of that sort of nefarious print--and you know the kind I mean--it sends a chill through you. Now, why does it send a chill through you? It sends a chill through you based on sort of the past disposition of the Internal Revenue Service. You get this feeling of: Is this an organization--is this an entity?--which has unbelievable authority? Are they being fair? Are they treating me, as a taxpayer, the way I ought to be treated? The reason this becomes so important is that we have got a tax compliance system in the United States 99 percent of which is voluntary. It is a remarkable thing that 99 percent of American taxpayers voluntarily pay their taxes, and yet they are paying taxes into a system in which their confidence is shaken, and it is shaken grievously. It is shaken so much that, on a bipartisan basis, Mr. Speaker, the Ways and Means Committee reported out on a voice vote these things on which Republicans and Democrats have come together.…”