Providing for Consideration of H.R. Taxpayer First Act, and Providing for Consideration of H.R. 21st Century Irs Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, vote against this rule for three reasons:
First, it is a closed rule. You should always vote against a closed rule.
But second, it is the embodiment of a pernicious tradition of always having closed rules on tax bills. That is outrageous. Why would we not apply that to everything that Congress deals with?
We are told: Well, if we don't have a closed rule, we have to have an open rule; we don't want an open rule on a tax bill.
You could have a structured rule. You could have germane amendments.
What does a closed rule on every tax bill mean? It means that over 400 of us can never offer an amendment about taxation, and it also means that, if an amendment is hotly debated in the Ways and Means Committee and prevails or is defeated by one vote, then the entire House cannot chime in on that issue. The second reason to vote against this rule is to break this ironclad tradition of closed rules on tax bills.
There is a third reason, and that is, my amendment to strike section 202 was not allowed. I am an old CPA. I headed the second largest tax agency in this country. I am very interested in easing the burden on taxpayers. This bill generally does that. But section 202 is designed-- doesn't actually do this, but it pushes in the direction of locking in the free file system. That is a contract that the IRS has with TurboTax and H&R Block that is supposed to allow everyone with an income of under $66,000 to file for free. But with TurboTax, you have to have an income under $33,000; with H&R Block, you have to be under 50.
I, personally, resent that.
The Free File Program isn't free even if you don't have to pay for the software because you have got to gather your 1099, your INT, your 1099-DIV, and your W-2, and you have to correctly interpret that and enter it into the system.
There is a better system. It is called the pre-prepared tax system. It is being used in Denmark, Sweden, Spain, Belgium, Japan, Chile, and the United Kingdom, not to mention Norway and Finland. The IRS would send you the return. It is already filled out. They already have all the information from your 1099s and your W-2s. You could just hit ``yes'' or you could make changes there on the screen, or you could throw away the IRS' version, go get TurboTax, go to H&R Block, and fill out your own return the way you do it now.
This provision, section 202, pushes the IRS against going to the pre- prepared return system, a better system, a system that was explored in 1998 by a Republican Congress, and the IRS was told to develop that system by 2008. The IRS never did.
So there should be an amendment to strike section 202 and push the IRS toward a pre-prepared return system where you could literally be done with your tax return in 1 minute and not have to keep track of all these pieces of paper and try to interpret them.
There is a solution because this bill will pass. This bill should pass. All the other provisions are pretty good.
You can cosponsor the Tax Filing Simplification Act. By doing that, you would override section 202, tell the IRS that they have to go to a pre-prepared return system.
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Mr. SHERMAN. We would catch up with Spain and Norway and Denmark and Japan and really have a tax system where you don't have to keep track of all the little pieces of paper that the IRS already has, and you wouldn't have to interpret them and figure out where to put them in the complicated software when the IRS already knows how to do that.
I realize that TurboTax and H&R Block might lose some money, but this is a chance for taxpayers around the country to have an easy system.
If you can't vote against the rule--and I wouldn't vote against the bill--cosponsor the Tax Filing Simplification Act.
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Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I will point out, like every committee, you can always send a letter to any committee I serve on or the Ways and Means Committee. But to take away from Members their right to come to the floor and offer an amendment and get a vote is to relegate us to the same position as all 320 million Americans, all of whom can send a letter to the Ways and Means Committee.
I will also point out that the act I talked about, the Tax Filing Simplification Act, was referred to the Ways and Means Committee, has a number of cosponsors, and has never received a hearing or half a hearing or any discussion.
So to say that the Ways and Means Committee will accept our letters and, therefore, we should have closed rules on tax bills, apply that to every other issue we have--every committee in this House will accept a letter from any other Member, let alone any constituent--means we really want closed rules on everything.
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