Holding the IRS's Feet to the Fire

Dear Patriot,

As a part of our continued effort to get to the bottom of the IRS’s targeting of Americans  because of their beliefs, the Ways and Means Committee held today it’s third hearing with Acting-Chief of the IRS, Mr. Daniel Werfel.

At the hearing, I demanded that Werfel end the IRS’s practice of targeting Americans, and start going after the waste, fraud, and abuse that is costing taxpayers billions of dollars.  Simply put, the IRS failure to go after fraud is robbing the American taxpayer.  For example, the Inspector General (IG) has sounded the alarm over the years about the fraud and abuse with the $1,000 refundable child tax credit.  Has the IRS listened?  No!  Under the tax code, the child must live with the tax filer for more than half of the year to get the credit, but the IRS has failed to do their job and enforce this rule.  Not to mention last summer, the IG reported the IRS management discouraged employees from “detecting fraudulent applications” for Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs).  In addition to Social Security Numbers, those with ITINs can get the refundable child tax credit.  According to the 2012 IG report, nearly 24,000 tax refunds totaling $46.4 million were issued to the same address in Atlanta. 

That’s why, I have re-introduced H.R. 556, “the Refundable Child Tax Credit Eligibility Verification Reform Act.”  This commonsense, cost-saving bill would require tax filers to provide their Social Security numbers to claim the $1,000 refundable child tax credit.  The House passed a version of this bill three times in the last Congress.

According to the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), the official non-partisan Congressional tax scorekeeper, my bill will save American taxpayers an estimated $24.4 billion over the next ten years. That’s no pocket change, not even for Washington’s standards.

Today at the hearing, Mr. Werfel admittedly said the ITIN program continues to be a problem and should be looked into further.  I will hold him to his word, and make sure he follows through.  The bottom-line is that the American people deserve better.  

Americans need the assurance that their tax dollars are protected, not used to target them for their beliefs.  They don’t want to see this ever happen again.

SAM JOHNSON
Member of Congress