Transportations, Treasury, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2005
TRANSPORTATION, TREASURY, AND INDEPENDENT AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2005 -- (House of Representatives - September 15, 2004)
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Bradley of New Hampshire). Pursuant to House Resolution 770 and rule XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for the further consideration of the bill, H.R. 5025.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
My amendment to H.R. 5025 seeks to keep the collection of taxes in the IRS and not to a private debt collector. I wish to make it clear today that I am in complete support of efficient and effective enforcement of tax collection activities at all levels of the Federal Government. I also realize that we must recover the billions and billions of dollars in uncollected and delinquent tax revenue, but at what cost.
If we authorize the Treasury to allow the IRS to contract with private companies to collect delinquent Federal taxes, I am extremely concerned that harm could result from handing over sensitive personal and financial tax information to private sector businesses to carry out what OMB and IRS have officially characterized as an inherently governmental function.
Allowing for private debt collection contracts could create a multitude of problems. For instance, any negligent or criminal disclosure of sensitive taxpayer data by private sector tax collectors could result in fraudulent charges through identity theft and ruined credit histories for innocent taxpayers.
Moreover, the potential for harassment by debt collectors is compounded by the private sector tax collection practice of using incentive-based commission compensation. In other words, the more aggressive one is in their collection practices, through misrepresentations or threatening to take actions a person should not take, the more money they can personally make as a private sector tax collector. This system could encourage much more confrontational and abusive tactics that could violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
Additionally, the Federal Government has tested this concept of private sector tax collection in the past. In 1996, a pilot program provided $13 million to examine the impact of private tax collection. The General Accounting Office reported that private companies collected $3.1 million in revenue while incurring expenses to the Federal Government in the exact same amount. Moreover, the GAO found that the pilot program caused the Internal Revenue Service to lose as much as $17 million in lost collection opportunities. We cannot afford to implement this type of inefficiency.
Mr. Chairman, the Reagan administration rejected private sector tax collection in 1986; and they stated: "The public must be assured at all times that the person collecting taxes derives no personal benefits from that activity and that the integrity of the tax system will not be compromised."
I urge my colleagues to support this amendment so that we can continue to ensure the integrity of our tax system and the American taxpayers are protected.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to my colleague, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Van Hollen).
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Simmons).
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Ferguson).
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Rogers).
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. Chairman, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Wilson).