Steve Lynch: “I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 1563, the Federal Employee Tax…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 1563, the Federal Employee Tax Accountability Act. I just want to point out that this is indeed about Federal employees, the Federal Employee Tax Accountability Act. It is all about Federal employees. While I have the greatest respect for the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Chaffetz), I remain concerned that the practical effect of H.R. 1563 will be to significantly diminish the privacy rights of our dedicated Federal workforce. It is important to note that Internal Revenue Code section 6103 provides that all citizens, for all citizens, Federal tax information-- including tax returns, annual wage and tax statements, and tax penalty notices--is strictly confidential and must remain in the trust of only the IRS. It must remain in the trust of only the IRS and the individual taxpayer. That is it. It is not open to general knowledge. Under this bill, though, tax information--which now includes health information because of the Affordable Care Act--is all going to be shared among every single Federal agency to take so-called adverse personnel actions against one of its employees where the agency finds that an individual has willfully fallen behind on his or her taxes or failed to file a return on time. Now, we have completely blown this out. If it is not about Federal employees, this is what we are going to do to every American taxpayer.…”