Cramer: House Votes To Increase Accountability And Oversight Of Internal Revenue Service

Press Release

Congressman Kevin Cramer announced the passage of five bills in the House of Representatives this week that increases accountability and oversight of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

This legislation addresses criminal wrongdoing by IRS employees targeting conservative organizations, requires Congressional approval on how user fees collected by the IRS are spent, suspends the hiring of IRS employees who have not paid their taxes, prohibits rehiring former IRS employees who had previously been dismissed for misconduct, and bans the payment of bonuses to employees until a comprehensive customer service strategy is approved by Congress.

"In this week when all Americans were required to file their income taxes, the House is addressing the ineptitude and culture of corruption at this rogue agency," said Cramer. "The IRS has betrayed the public trust with mismanagement and scandal. The bills we passed this week are badly needed and basic. They address practices that would never fly in North Dakota and shouldn't be tolerated anywhere in Washington."

Here is a summary of the bills passed this week which Cramer supported.

H.R. 4903. Since early 2011, the Committees on Oversight and Government Reform and Ways and Means have investigated evidence of possible criminal wrong-doing by IRS employees, including Lois Lerner, the former IRS Director of Exempt Organizations, relating to the targeting of conservative organizations. H.R. 4903 prohibits the IRS from using funds to target United States citizens for exercising any rights guaranteed under the First Amendment.

H.R. 4885 - IRS Oversight While Eliminating Spending (OWES) Act. The IRS collects user fees for a variety of programs and services, and under current law has authority to allocate money from its user-fee account as the agency sees fit, without Congressional approval or appropriation. The Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight investigation found that in Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 the IRS deliberately diverted resources away from taxpayer services and towards other agency functions, including implementation of the Affordable Care Act. The bill repeals the provision of current law that allows the IRS to spend user fees collected by the agency without Congressional approval or appropriation. It requires that all IRS user fees collected be deposited into the general fund of the Department of the Treasury, and be subject to Congressional appropriations.

H.R. 1206 -- No Hires for the Delinquent IRS Act. In April 2015, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration reported that of the 1,580 IRS employees found to be willfully noncompliant with tax laws between 2004 and 2013, only 39 percent were terminated, resigned, or retired. This is despite current law which requires the IRS to terminate an employee who willfully fails to file a federal tax return or willfully understates federal tax liability. This bill suspends the hiring of new IRS employees unless the Treasury Secretary certifies that no IRS employees have serious tax delinquencies with respect to their own tax obligations. If the Secretary cannot make such certification, the Secretary must submit a report explaining why it cannot certify, outlining the remedial actions that would be necessary to make such certification, and indicating the time that would be required to complete those actions.

H.R. 3724 - Ensuring Integrity in the IRS Workforce Act of 2015. As part of the basic obligation of public service, all federal employees are required to comply with legal and financial obligations. Employees of the IRS are subject to the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch as well as additional rules applicable to the Department of the Treasury. In February 2015, the Treasury Inspector General (IG) for Tax Administration released a report that found hundreds of former employees with "prior substantiated conduct or performance issues ranging from tax issues, unauthorized access to taxpayer information, leave abuse, falsification of official forms, unacceptable performance, misuse of IRS property, and off-duty misconduct." In addition, the IG found that one in five of the rehired employees with a record of prior misconduct had performance issues when they returned to the IRS. This bill prohibits rehiring any individual who was previously employed by the IRS but was removed for misconduct or whose employment was terminated for cause.

H.R. 4890 - According to the Internal Revenue Service's Strategic Plan for FY2014-2017, the delivery of high quality and timely service to reduce taxpayer burden and encourage compliance is identified as goal number one. According to the Taxpayer Advocate, the IRS was only able to answer 37 percent of calls last year during the 2014 filing season, and those callers who managed to get through had to wait on hold an average of 23 minutes. This was a marked drop off compared to the 2013 filing season when 71 percent of calls were answered and there was an average hold time of 14 minutes. The Commissioner of the IRS expects to answer between 47 and 50 percent of calls this year for the 2015 filing season. H.R. 4890 places a ban on payment of bonuses to IRS employees until the Department of the Treasury submits to Congress a comprehensive customer service strategy that has been reviewed and approved by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

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