Political Quotes

“I am such a proud cosponsor of the Taxpayer First Act, and I stand with my colleagues as we vote on this bipartisan, bicameral bill. I am going to quickly address two key provisions of this bill. First, this bill is an important step that Congress is taking toward reforming the IRS for the first time in 20 years to better serve taxpayers and to strengthen taxpayer protections that have been long overdue. This whole-scale modernization is an important step toward restoring confidence and trust in this crucial Federal agency. Secondly, with the aim of encouraging sensible enforcement, this act modifies the IRS private debt collection program to stop the targeting of lower income Americans by creating two additional categories of cases not eligible for referral to private collection agencies: taxpayers whose income is substantially derived from Supplemental Security Income benefits or disability insurance benefits payments, or taxpayers with an adjusted gross income of 200 percent of the poverty level and below. For years, experts have told Congress that private debt collection has hurt the most vulnerable among us. Today, we are providing safeguards to protect against businesses profiting by collecting from financially vulnerable taxpayers. Mr. Speaker, I urge immediate passage of this important legislation, and I urge all Members to support it.”