Grassley: Taxpayer Advocate’s Report Affirms Need to Fix AMT, Shrink Tax Gap
Sen. Chuck Grassley, outgoing chairman of the Committee on Finance, today issued the
following statement regarding the National Taxpayer Advocate’s Report to Congress. The National
Taxpayer Advocate, Nina Olson, heads the Taxpayer Advocate Service. The Taxpayer Advocate
Service is an independent organization within the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) whose employees
assist taxpayers who are experiencing economic harm, seeking help in resolving tax problems that
have not been resolved through normal channels, or who believe that an IRS system or procedure
is not working as it should.
The law requires the National Taxpayer Advocate to issue an annual
report to Congress on systemic problems encountered by taxpayers in their dealings with the IRS.
“I appreciate the work of this report. This is an important resource for Congress as we
monitor taxpayers’ experience with the IRS.
“It’s good to have the taxpayer advocate joining the chorus. The AMT is taxpayer enemy
number one. It’s Congress’ responsibility to fix it. Senator Baucus and I introduced a bill to repeal
the AMT as our first bill together in the new Congress. The purpose is to show our commitment to
repealing the AMT and otherwise simplifying the tax code in the coming months. While there’s no
consensus on whether to offset the cost of repeal, or how to offset the cost, we intend to work toward
a bipartisan solution. In the meantime, our temporary ‘patches’ keep more taxpayers from falling
into the AMT.
“It’s also good to have the taxpayer advocate focused on the tax gap. The Finance
Committee has enacted several steps to reduce the tax gap, such as boosting the IRS’ whistleblower
program and authorizing a carefully conceived private debt collection program. But we need to do
more. Dozens of factors contribute to the tax gap, and dozens of solutions are needed to close it.
The taxpayer advocate’s concern about the private debt collection program is noteworthy. I intend
to learn much more about her concern and the IRS’ management of private debt collectors. The
Finance Committee has made clear that oversight of the program should be a priority for the
Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and the Government Accountability Office. We
need to make sure private debt collectors fully respect taxpayers’ rights and are as accountable to
Congress and the public as the IRS. But calls for repealing the private debt collection program are
premature. The program just started, and we have to make it work. As the advocate herself points
out, taxpayers who don’t pay what they owe put a financial burden on everyone who does. Closing
the tax gap is only fair to good-faith taxpayers.”
###
Next Article Previous Article