Holding The IRS Accountable

Last week, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) claimed that it “lost” two years’ worth of emails directly related to the agency’s targeting of law-abiding taxpayers. This is unbelievable. Old emails don’t disappear on their own—they have to be intentionally deleted. The American people deserve to know the truth about what happened at the IRS, and this newest revelation only increases our distrust and skepticism.

House conservatives will continue to investigate both the IRS and Lois Lerner, and this Wednesday, my colleagues and I on the House Appropriations Committee will be working on a bill that reduces IRS funding by $341 million and ensures that your hard-earned tax dollars do not go to corrupt IRS employees. The total amount of funding provided to the IRS is $1.5 billion below the President’s budget request.

In addition to reducing funding for the IRS, the bill includes the following provisions that will prevent future targeting of law abiding taxpayers by IRS employees:

• Prohibits the IRS from implementing a proposed regulation targeting the political activities of 501(c)(4) organizations. This proposed regulation could jeopardize the tax-exempt status of many non-profit organizations and inhibit citizens from exercising their right to freedom of speech, simply because they may be involved in political activity. Our bill will stop the IRS from being able to implement their regulation and tread on the free speech of 501(c)(4) organizations. 
• Prohibits bonuses for IRS employees who have not paid their taxes. 
• Prohibits the use of federal taxpayer dollars to create videos promoting IRS training conferences.
• Requires the IRS to report on how they are spending taxpayer dollars. 

You can watch the markup live on YouTube at 9 am Central Time on Wednesday, and once we approve the bill in committee, it will then be considered by the full House. I will continue to keep you updated on the work my colleagues and I are doing to protect your hard earned tax dollars from waste and abuse by government bureaucrats.