As the owner of a small business and our family farm, tax season has always been a stressful time for me. Unfortunately, the frustration over taxes doesn’t stop with just paying them, but continues when learning how those taxpayer dollars are then spent.
Congressman Jason Smith Capitol Report
Liberty From IRS Slush
April 22nd, 2016
As the owner of a small business and our family farm, tax season has always been a stressful time for me. Unfortunately, the frustration over taxes doesn’t stop with just paying them, but continues when learning how those taxpayer dollars are then spent.
Earlier this week I had an opportunity to question IRS Commissioner John Koskinen face to face to get to the bottom of how exactly the IRS was spending the funds they have collected in user fees from American taxpayers...you know, those fees the IRS charges when you ask a detailed question, want your return submitted a certain way or have to pay for filing late. His answers to me were incredibly troubling. After tip-toeing around a direct answer for several minutes, Commissioner Koskinen finally admitted that it was the IRS’ own decision to cut $130 million for taxpayer assistance out of their budget and instead funnel that money towards implementing Obamacare mandates. The precise mandates which Congress had allocated ZERO taxpayer dollars for and said loud and clear "DO NOT implement". In other words, the IRS was treating these taxpayer collected user fees as their own personal slush fund.
I want it to be very clear that the IRS chose to take user fee money away from improving services for taxpayers. This wasn't a decision made by Congress, nor one agreed to by the American taxpayer. As a matter of fact, to the contrary, since 2013 Congress had actually increased the budget for taxpayer assistance services which go towards reducing wait times, improving responsiveness and providing access to taxpayers to get help at the IRS.
Unfortunately, we have all seen and felt the Commissioners decision. In 2015, 62% of calls to the IRS went unanswered and the average wait time when calling was 30.5 minutes. These numbers are unacceptable and it is no wonder why folks in south central and southeast Missouri and across America get so frustrated at tax season and angry at government.
From illegal political and religious targeting to over aggressive and unjust audits, the IRS has proven time and time again that they cannot be trusted to do what’s best for American taxpayers. That is why I introduced H.R. 4885, the IRS Oversight While Eliminating Spending (OWES) Act and this week I am proud that this legislation passed the U.S. House of Representatives. The IRS OWES Act will rein in the out-of-control IRS and give Congress and the American people control over the IRS’s collected user fees, not unelected Washington bureaucrats. If signed into law the IRS will no longer be able to use secretive taxpayer funds to implement Obamacare by cutting customer service dollars by upwards of 75% from one year to the next.
To me it is common sense: The IRS cannot be trusted to spend taxpayer funds appropriately because they have proven time and time again that they do not have the best interests of Americans as a priority.
As “tax week” comes to a close, we are all reminded of just how broken our tax code is and how dysfunctional a system can be where the IRS can collect fees directly from taxpayers and then spend that money how they see fit without approval from Congress or the American taxpayer. Thomas Jefferson once said, "When the people fear the government, there is tyranny, when the government fears the people, there is liberty". It is time the folks of Missouri and all across the U.S. are liberated from an untrustworthy IRS. Serious reforms like this will once again make the IRS fear the American taxpayer and not the other way around.
