Peter Roskam Goes After IRS Abuses

A press release from Congressman Peter Roskam:

Roskam IRS Bills Head to House Floor for Vote

Aimed at Stopping IRS Abuses, Roskam Bills Part of StopGovernmentWaste Week

WASHINGTON – Today Congressman Peter Roskam (R-IL) announced that next week the House of Representatives will take up two bills he authored aimed at stopping IRS abuses as part of Stop Government Abuse Week: H.R. 2768 the Taxpayer Bill of Rights Act and H.R. 2769 the Stop Playing on Citizen’s Cash (SPOCC) Act.

Peter Roskam

Peter Roskam

“Investigations into IRS abuses show that it is a bureaucracy out of control,” said Roskam.

“The IRS has the power to reach into the lives of virtually every American, and recent scandals show the IRS can commit shocking acts of abuse.

“From targeting individuals based on their political and religious views and asking invasive questions, to wasting millions of tax dollars to create spoof Star Trek videos and organize lavish employee conferences –these are mind-blowing abuses of power.

“Congress must step in to stop this behavior and protect every American and their hard-earned tax dollars.”

The two bills are as follows:

  • The Taxpayer Bill of Rights Act would require the IRS to respect common-sense taxpayer rights such as the right to be informed and assisted, the right of appeal and the right to confidentiality, among others. This law ensures the IRS Commissioner and IRS employees are familiar with, and abide by, these taxpayer rights.
  • The Stop Playing on Citizen’s Cash (SPOCC) Act goes after the IRS wasting taxpayer dollars. This comes in light of the IRS’ spending tax dollars on their now-infamous Star Trek video, featuring Mr. Spock, a Gilligan’s Island skit and lavish spending on gifts and entertainment for multi-million dollar agency conferences. The IRS would be required to take immediate corrective action before organizing any future spending in this category.

“This track record shows the IRS has been acting with virtually no regard for the taxpayers they serve and an unacceptable lack of oversight from their senior leadership.” said Roskam. “The magnitude of waste and abuse that has already occurred is staggering, and these two bills and the legislation being forwarded during Stop Government Abuse Week will help our continued effort to get the IRS and the bureaucracy under control.”

Congressman Roskam’s bills are included in a collection of bills that the House of Representatives will vote on next week as part of Stop Government Waste Week, a GOP Conference initiative to fight government waste and abuse.


Comments

Peter Roskam Goes After IRS Abuses — 2 Comments

  1. ‘Star Strek’ IRS video Played at Hearing, ‘Mr Spock’ Apologizes for ‘Embarrassing’ Mistake
    Published on Jun 6, 2013
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oj_V6JLknY

    John Stossel: IRS Spends $60,000 on Star Trek Tax Spoof
    Published on Apr 12, 2013
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbhuVB7JkcE

    IRS Star Trek Parody
    Published on Mar 22, 2013
    “Star Trek” parody video produced by IRS in-house studio and served as the opening of a training and leadership conference in 2010
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxU6n4pAnrU

    Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Gilligan’s Island Parody (2010)
    Published on Mar 29, 2013

    Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Gilligan’s Island Parody (2010)
    A Gilligan’s Island parody video produced by the IRS for a 2010 training and leadership conference. According to the New York Daily News, this video, along with a training video that parodied Star Trek, cost taxpayers about $60,000. The Star Trek video accounted for most of the money.
    The IRS got a rebuke from Congress for wasting taxpayer dollars.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zU2BxRw9_Q

    IRS releases taxpayer-funded dancing video
    Published on May 31, 2013

    After Rep. Charles Boustany, R-La., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Oversight Subcommittee, requested all taxpayer-funded videos produced by the IRS following the outrage stirred by previous video spoofs of Star Trek and Gilligan’s Island, the IRS released another video on Friday showing employees learning how to dance and providing commentary.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXFSF4o6Mxk

    The big cumulative cost is not in video productions but the amount of money government spends on travel and expenses to conferences and meetings.

    Just one example.

    Several local suburban Chicago school districts pay for overnight lodging in Chicago every year for School Board members and Administrators to attend the Illinois Association of School Board (IASB) Annual Conference.

    Why are we spending overnight lodging for a local conference?

    Because taxpayers don’t have a clue how their money is spent, the districts don’t report this unless it’s brought out through a FOIA.

    Even though almost every public school district almost every year complains about a shortage of funding.

  2. Is this more “window dressing” by Roskam? After all he just voted against putting the “brakes” on the invasive practices of the NSA. Kinsinger followed suit! imho both need to be replaced. Was Manzullo cast aside because ‘they’ could not get enough ‘dirt’ on him? If so, what ‘dirt’ do ‘they’ have on Kinsinger, Schock, and Roskam? What dirt? Watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AARtO88G5Ag

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