Lamar Smith: “I thank the gentleman from Virginia, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, for yielding me time, and I also want to…”

“I thank the gentleman from Virginia, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, for yielding me time, and I also want to thank him for bringing this bill to the House floor today. H.R. 744, the STOP Identity Theft Act, is a bicameral, bipartisan solution that curbs the rapidly increasing problem of tax return identity theft. I am the original cosponsor of this bill, with Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who has long taken the initiative on this pressing subject. The STOP Identity Theft Act increases criminal penalties for tax return ID theft. The bill also broadens the definition of identity theft victims to include businesses and nonprofit organizations. In recent years, tax thieves have received billions of dollars in fraudulent tax returns. These criminals have become proficient in stealing identity information and Social Security numbers to file false tax returns with the IRS, oftentimes before the legitimate taxpayer files a return themselves. It is only after a tax return is rejected that the victim learns that their identity has been stolen and their tax return wrongfully pocketed. H.R. 744 is crucial to deter the number of individuals and families who are victimized by ID tax thieves. Identity theft costs victims both money and time to restore their identities. The House previously adopted this bill by voice vote in the last Congress.…”