U.S. Sen. Grassley: Statement On The Role Of The IRS in Health Reform 11/19/2009

I rise today to join my friend from Kansas in sounding the alarm about the IRS’s role in Americans’ health care choices.

The various health care bills being considered before Congress would task the IRS with administering several new and very controversial provisions including the individual mandate, employer free-rider penalty, the premium subsidy for low income individuals, the small business tax credits, working with exchanges to verify income information and figuring out how to calculate and collect several new “fees” which are in fact excise taxes.

Senator Roberts said during debate in the Finance Committee that some people joke that CMS stands for “It’s a Mess”. Well, the same could be said of the IRS. As many of us know all too well, the tax gap is a serious issue. The hundreds of billions of dollars owed that the IRS isn’t collecting suggest that the IRS isn’t effective at executing its primary mission – the enforcement of the revenue laws. The IRS is just now starting to increase its enforcement efforts which had declined significantly after the restructuring a decade ago. But, just like many other federal agencies, it is facing a human resources crisis – more than 50% of its workforce is expected to retire in the near future. So it doesn’t have the resources it needs to do its first job never mind a whole new one like administering health reform. Morehttp://www.iowapolitics.com/index.iml?Article=177393

U.S. Sen. Grassley: Statement On The Role Of The IRS in Health Reform 11/19/2009