James Traficant: “the two amendments that were placed in the IRS reform bill by former Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, Bill…”

“the two amendments that were placed in the IRS reform bill by former Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, Bill Archer, the Traficant amendments could not get a hearing for 12 years. Yes, the first one shifted the burden of proof from the taxpayer of the IRS who was guilty in a civil court. The second one said they could not seize their homes without judicial consent. We let that go for 50 years. Here are the statistics. Seizures of homes dropped from 10,037 a year to 150. Wage attachments dropped from 3.1 million to half a million. Liens dropped from 680,000 to 160,000. You are right. Some of these positions do not exist and some of the reforms we did have worked. But the bottom line is someone is responsible here and new employees do not get bonuses. Those people at the top that are coming in, the Congress is saying no bonuses until you return our constituents' calls and until your information makes sense. That is not an unreasonable demand. Let me say this, I commend Chairman Archer for having the courage to make those changes because they were not in the bill. The IRS vehemently opposed them as did the Clinton administration. It is time to make this change and it is time to send this message. We are not from Western Union, but this strikes at the core.”