George Holding: “The motion to recommit is an attempt by the minority to gloss over the IRS' failure to enforce its rules for IRS…”

“The motion to recommit is an attempt by the minority to gloss over the IRS' failure to enforce its rules for IRS employee conduct and over its failure to protect taxpayer dollars. Quite simply, this bill would require the IRS to report to Congress as to whether it has employees with seriously delinquent tax debt or to report why it cannot provide that information to Congress. As I have said multiple times, the American people deserve and expect IRS employees to follow the same tax laws that they administer. That is an expectation of the IRS; so it is not surprising that the IRS would have a low rate of delinquency amongst its employees. IRS employees should know that it is current law. Current law actually requires that the IRS fire willfully tax-noncompliant employees unless they have reasonable cause for not paying their taxes. What is shocking is that, in most cases, Mr. Speaker, the IRS leadership fails to even document why delinquent employees are not penalized, and 61 percent were not penalized for having delinquent taxes. This legislation, Mr. Speaker, is a critical step forward in restoring accountability and trust in the IRS. It is a trust that has been broken--a trust, I would argue, that doesn't exist between the people and the IRS. I urge my colleagues to make the IRS accountable to the American people--to vote against the motion to recommit and to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 1206. I yield back the balance of my time. The SPEAKER pro tempore.…”