WASHINGTON, DC – National Taxpayers Union President Pete Sepp on Thursday applauded Senate passage of the Taxpayer Assistance and Service Act, which was amended into H.R. 5349, representing a major, much-needed step toward addressing common IRS challenges faced by taxpayers.
“Taxpayers know the IRS needs reform, and this package contains 23 much-needed recommendations we made, including once again requiring the IRS to produce an annual report on tax complexity, judicial reforms that give taxpayers a fairer chance in court, and upgrades to taxpayer-facing websites and technology. Although the House may pass modified portions of the TAS Act when it returns to session, taxpayers have been waiting to see admirable progress like this for several years. Further work must be completed in Congress to continue this major win in a bipartisan, bicameral fashion that will provide the strongest possible transformational change at the IRS.
“NTU consistently emphasizes the importance of administrability in tax policy. As policymakers set rates, define tax bases, and design deductions and credits, they must consider the practical impact on taxpayers’ lives and rights. Without careful attention to administrability, taxpayers will face greater uncertainty and mistrust in their government, revenue officials will struggle to fulfill their duties efficiently, tax practitioners will become increasingly frustrated with unnecessary complexity, and businesses will divert too many resources toward compliance rather than productive economic activity,” Sepp said.
NTU has led multiple efforts in support of congressional legislation to improve operations of the IRS and ensure greater balance in tax enforcement. Throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, NTU brought forward firsthand accounts from taxpayers who had experienced IRS maladministration and organized a broad coalition of civil liberties organizations in support of reform.
These efforts successfully persuaded Congress to enact the first Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights as part of the Technical and Miscellaneous Revenue Act of 1988. In 1996 and 1997, NTU’s then-Executive Vice President David Keating was appointed to the National Commission on Restructuring the Internal Revenue Service (“Restructuring Commission”), a federal panel whose recommendations laid the foundation for the most significant IRS overhaul in a generation—the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (RRA ‘98). Since then, NTU has continued to advocate for responsible tax administration, urging a cautious and deliberative approach to IRS modernization instead of massive, ill-considered funding hikes. The group has advocated for numerous refinements to the TAS Act as it has evolved during the legislative process and will continue to work with lawmakers toward enacting a package with the most impactful, pro-taxpayer provisions possible before the year ends.
National Taxpayers Union is the only free-market organization for taxpayers that unites effective advocacy with useful research about how to limit taxes, spending, and regulation at every level and branch of government, state, federal, administrative, and judicial.
