Individual Tax Simlification Act of 2005

INDIVIDUAL TAX SIMPLIFICATION ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - June 22, 2005)

(Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I have served in this House since 1988, and I have been on the Committee on Ways and Means since 1993. A lot has changed over this time, but one thing still seems to stay the same and that is the need to bring simplification to our Nation's Tax Code.

The former chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means said he was going to rip the Tax Code out by its roots so that we could start over and create a new system that was far more simple. He was unsuccessful, as have been most reformers that I have seen in my time on this committee.

Year after year, the problem gets worse. It is easy to call for simplification, but it is a lot harder to achieve it.

Last week, I introduced H.R. 2950, the Individual Tax Simplification Act of 2005, which I have done now for 6 years in a row. It is an outstanding first step in achieving a simpler Tax Code.

My bill would eliminate, and listen to this, it would eliminate the alternative minimum tax in a revenue-neutral fashion. It would also take 200 lines from tax forms, schedules and worksheets and make capital gains much easier to calculate.

As I have indicated, this is 6 years now that we have offered this legislation, but every year that passes our Code grows more and more complex. We have an opportunity to do away with the alternative minimum tax.

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