Rep. Ander Crenshaw (R-Fla.) pledged on Monday to help hold the IRS accountable for its use of taxpayer dollars, reform the tax code and repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Crenshaw’s remarks came a day before the IRS’s deadline to file tax returns.
“With recent revelations that the IRS targeted groups based on political belief (and) spent outrageous amounts of hard-earned taxpayer dollars on lavish conferences and videos, this agency has got to clean up its act,” Crenshaw, the chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, said. “That’s why I told IRS Commissioner John Koskinen on April 7 I was ‘troubled’ by his request for a 10 percent, $1.2 billion budget increase for fiscal year 2015. My subcommittee spent the better part of last year fighting for accountability from the IRS.”
The subcommittee also worked to prevent the IRS from using taxpayer dollars to implement the ACA, Crenshaw said.
“Americans spend $265 billion dollars and use 6.1 billion hours every year filing tax forms – money that could be better spent investing in a new business, buying a home or saving for college,” Crenshaw said. “Implementing FairTax legislation would simplify the current code, replacing it with one transparent national sales tax on goods and services.”
Crenshaw recently supported a budget bill introduced by House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).
“With my support, the House passed the Ryan Budget last week – legislation that states Congress should consider FairTax legislation and other meaningful comprehensive tax reforms that Americans need and deserve,” Crenshaw said. “Moving forward, I’ll be keeping the pressure on to turn the FairTax into law.”