Steve Largent: “Mr. Speaker, this has been a great debate, as my friend, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel), has said. It is an…”

“Mr. Speaker, this has been a great debate, as my friend, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel), has said. It is an important debate. This is a good time to have this debate. Many taxpayers are filing their tax returns as we speak. We have heard the numbers, 5.4 billion hours that we spend doing tax returns. That would cost somewhere around $225 billion wasted to file those tax returns. If someone calls the IRS and they ask them a question about their tax returns, statistics show 47 percent of the time the IRS gets the answer wrong. If one fills in the blank with the answer the IRS gives them, they punish that person; they can give them a penalty and charge them interest for taxes they did not pay. Here is a 1040-EZ form, the easiest way to file a tax return in this country. Along with it, a 32-page document explaining how to file the 1040-EZ form. Here is an article from the Wall Street Journal, three organizations which will urge Congress later this week to simplify the tax laws. Want to know who those groups are? The American Bar Association Tax Section; the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Tax Division; and the Tax Executives Institute. The experts are saying, please, simplify the Tax Code. The experts do not understand the Tax Code. How can the American people understand the Tax Code?”