Congress Soothes Taxpayers... Again

Congress Soothes Taxpayers… Again

Monday, April 14th 1997 — Twenty four hours to tax day. Hoping you'll be paying attention is Newt Gingrich who, this morning, proposed a one-year amnesty for tax-debtors to work out problems with paying the IRS their due. This program is not a mere political posture, but a needed program to help the IRS with collections problems that appear to be escalating during the past decade. Many taxpayers have given up trying to pay back taxes and file past returns. The IRS estimates that as many as 2% of taxpayers have "fallen off the map" and virtually disappeared from tax rolls. Some of them, of course, are not working, but IRS suspects that many have given up participating in hopes tax collectors will fail to spot their absence. A moratorium on prosecutions and seizures may help to get taxpayers into IRS offices to come clean.

Also, the yearly carrots to lure people into somnambulistic torpors are in the offing. Republicans, led by humbled Speaker Gingrich have arrayed a veritable potpourri of tax treats including the total elimination of capital gains taxes and a potential ousting of the entire Internal Revenue Service and its $7 billion a year budget. This last piece of cake was offered by GOP leader Dick Armey last week as he made the rounds of public policy talk shows.

Let me remind you that every April 15th, politicians offer hope.

Of course, nothing will really change.