The House of Representatives approved bills on Thursday that were introduced by U.S. Reps. Patrick Meehan (R-PA) and Kristi Noem (R-SD) to bring more accountability to the IRS.
The Ensuring Integrity in the IRS Workforce Act, H.R. 3724, which was led by Noem, would prohibit the IRS from rehiring employees who were previously fired for misconduct or job performance-related issues.
“The IRS has rehired hundreds of people who had already been fired once for misconduct,” Noem said. “This practice needs to end and that’s exactly what my bill does. It’s just commonsense. Much more must be done to correct our broken tax system. Nonetheless, as we work toward a fairer, flatter, and simpler tax code, I’ll be looking for more opportunities to make the IRS more accountable to you.”
The legislation follows a report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) that found that “hundreds of former employees with prior substantiated conduct or performance issues ranging from tax issues, unauthorized use of taxpayer information, leave abuse, falsification of official forms, unacceptable performance, misuse of IRS property and off-duty misconduct” had been be rehired by the IRS.
The House also approved Meehan’s bill – H.R. 4890 – to prevent the IRS from paying employee bonuses until it develops and implements a comprehensive customer service plan.
“Only one in three callers trying to get help from the IRS are able to get through,” Meehan said. “That means that just last year, 32 million calls to the IRS went unanswered. And even taxpayers that do get through face wait times three times as long as just five years ago.”
Meehan noted that the Government Accountability Board has urged the IRS to develop a comprehensive strategy to improve customer service, and that agencies that interact with the public less than the IRS have already done so.
The House approved two additional bills that would require the IRS to deposit fees for services into the Treasury’s general fund and would prevent the IRS from hiring new employees until it can verify that all current employees do not have delinquent taxes.
“The Obama administration has chosen to ignore the IRS’ full-on abuse of power, so Congress is taking the steps to do something about it,” U.S. Rep. Mike Bishop (R-MI) said. “I am committed to fighting for hardworking taxpayers and will continue to find more ways to hold the IRS accountable for its outright abuse and failures.”
U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-MN), who supported all four bills, said that Minnesotans expect IRS employees to play by the same rules as the public.
“Unfortunately, reports show this isn’t the case,” Paulsen said. “Without an increase in accountability and transparency at the agency, the IRS will continue to fail American taxpayers.”
U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton (R-CO) said that the IRS continues to be “unfair, dishonest, untrustworthy, incompetent and corrupt.”
“A prime example of this is the IRS charging Americans a fee for the collection of their taxes and then using those fees for unrelated programs like Obamacare – all while the IRS has targeted and suppressed the constitutionally protected free speech of our fellow citizens,” Tipton said. “This is an affront to the American people and I fundamentally oppose the selective enforcement of the law and the continued allowance of rampant fraud and other unchecked abuses. This legislation is an important first step in reversing this trend.”
U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) added that families and job creators across the country are frustrated by “the IRS putting itself first, the people second.”
“If an IRS employee didn’t earn a bonus, they shouldn’t receive one,” McMorris Rodgers said. “If someone was fired for misconduct, they shouldn’t be rehired. If the IRS is going to charge everyone a fee to file their taxes, the people should have a say in how it is spent. And the IRS shouldn’t have employees with significant personal tax debt. These are all common sense, and I applaud Reps. Kristi Noem (R-SD), Pat Meehan (R-PA), Jason Smith (R-MO), and David Rouzer (R-NC) for their work on bills that will bring accountability to the IRS and return more control to the American people.”