Angie Craig: “I rise in support of the IRS Reform Act. I would like to begin by congratulating Chairman Roth for holding the recent…”

“I rise in support of the IRS Reform Act. I would like to begin by congratulating Chairman Roth for holding the recent IRS hearings. The Finance Committee's historic hearing have made it possible for us to consider this bill, and they have made the Senate version of the bill improved and stronger than the House-passed version of HR 2676. However, I'm disappointed by the recent remarks by the Minority Leader, who said the Chairman's hearings were "sensationalistic." These hearing were not "sensationalistic," but were instead about getting at the truth. They exposed sensationally bad news about how a powerful arm of government has treated individual taxpayers. Indeed, given the stories that emerged, even holding these hearings was a brave act. Without these hearings there would have been no appointment of William Webster to review the IRS Criminal Investigation Division; no announcement of a special internal task force; the public would not have known that even a Senate Majority Leader is not protected from bizarre, apparently criminal, targeting; the bill might not have been as strong as it is; and, after a brief flurry of attention, the IRS would assume it was safe to return to business as usual. There are many causes to the problems that these hearings exposed. The culture which pervades the IRS is arrogant, powerful, and a law unto itself--it is unaccountable to anyone else. The tax law, too, is to blame.…”