Jeff Bingaman: “on this annual Tax Day, I rise to introduce the Taxpayer Protection and Assistance Act of 2007, a robust package of…”

“on this annual Tax Day, I rise to introduce the Taxpayer Protection and Assistance Act of 2007, a robust package of reforms aimed at protecting the rights of all American taxpayers. I am pleased that my colleagues on the Finance Committee, Senators Schumer, Kerry, and Menendez, as well as Senators Akaka, Brown of Ohio, Dodd, Durbin, Lieberman, Merkley, Pryor, and Udall of New Mexico, are joining me in introducing this bill. This act consists of numerous well-vetted provisions, which will ensure our nation's taxpayers are better able to prepare and file their tax returns each year in a fashion that is fair, reasonable, and affordable. First, the act clarifies taxpayers' rights and responsibilities by requiring Treasury to publish an easy-to-understand Taxpayer Bill of Rights, enumerating taxpayers' rights and obligation, and corresponding Internal Revenue Code citations. As the National Taxpayer Advocate has explained: "The [Internal Revenue] Code contains no comprehensive Taxpayer Bill of Rights that explicitly and transparently sets out taxpayer rights and obligations. Taxpayers do have rights, but they are scattered throughout the [Internal Revenue] Code and the Internal Revenue Manual and are neither easily accessible nor written in plain language that most taxpayers can understand." The act would rectify these shortcomings, without conferring any rights or obligations not already provided for under law.”