House Unanimously Passes Kelly Bill to Restore Transparency at IRS for Taxpayers
Kelly’s ‘Taxpayer Knowledge of IRS Investigations Act’ helps victims of IRS leaks; passed with 6 other bills to stop IRS
WASHINGTON — U.S. Representative Mike Kelly (R-PA) – a member of the House Ways and Means Committee – spoke on the floor of the House of Representatives today in support of H.R. 1026, the Taxpayer Knowledge of IRS Investigations Act, which he introduced on February 26, 2015. The legislation would amend the U.S. tax code to stop the IRS’s outrageous abuse of taxpayer privacy protections to instead protect government employees who improperly reveal confidential taxpayer information. Under Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code, it is currently a felony for anyone to reveal such information. The IRS has thus far exploited this provision to deny victims of IRS leaks knowledge about how their private information was accessed and who within the agency committed the wrongdoing. H.R. 1026 was passed by the House with unanimous support immediately following Rep. Kelly’s floor remarks.
A full list of today’s House-passed IRS reform bills can be viewed here.
Excerpts of Rep. Kelly’s floor speech:
“We shouldn’t have to pass laws like this, but unfortunately, laws are not made and governments are not run by angels, they’re run by men, and we have to have oversight over what’s happened.”
“This piece of legislation gives the same rights to those people whose information has been violated, whose information has been compromised, as is given to IRS personnel.”
“You cannot divulge private tax information to anybody else. It is a felony to do that. But [section] 6103 also prevented those whose tax information was divulged [from getting] any information on it. They weren’t allowed to even inquire and we’re not allowed to be informed of what was taking place. … ‘What’s been divulged?’ ‘Who divulged it?’ ‘Is there an ongoing investigation?’ ‘What were the findings of that investigation?’ ‘And who’s being held responsible, and more important than that, who’s being held accountable?’”
“If we are to restore the American people’s confidence in our form of government, this is essential. We cannot allow these things to happen.”
“So if it really is an American principle, and if we really do need to have faith and trust [in government] and feel that we are all being treated the same way, and in an honest way, and if it’s the only way to restore the confidence that people need to have in our form of government … then this type of legislation has to take place.”
“We’re protecting taxpayers and taxpayers’ rights. This is so fundamentally American.”
“It’s not only our responsibility—it is our duty to protect every single one of America’s citizens. And to divulge the information that was divulged [by the IRS] and to do it in such a way, to use the law to break the law, makes absolutely no sense to any of us.”
“This isn’t really about either side of the aisle. This is about all of us together doing what’s right for the American people. This should reconfirm to the American people that we are here acting in their best interest and defending them every single day that we sit in session and that we sit in office.”
Praise for Rep. Kelly’s bill by Rep. John Lewis (D-GA):
“This is a simple, commonsense bill. Taxpayers have a right to know if their tax return information has been compromised. I want to thank my friend, the gentlemen from Pennsylvania and my Republican colleague, the ranking member of the [Oversight] subcommittee, and the chairman, for bringing this bill to the floor today.”
BACKGROUND: On May 13, 2013, it was revealed that the IRS division headed by now-retired official Lois Lerner shared highly confidential tax-exempt status applications from multiple conservative groups with ProPublica, a private outside organization. In October 2013, it was reported that the agency “shared highly confidential tax information of several Tea Party groups in the IRS scandal with the Federal Election Commission, a clear violation of federal law.”
H.R. 1026 would amend the tax code to permit the release of certain information regarding the status of ongoing investigations related to the improper disclosure of taxpayer information by IRS employees. Under Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code, it is currently a felony for an IRS official to disclose such information to the public or to another government agency, which bars victims of wrongful IRS leaks from knowing the status of their no-longer private information.
NOTE: Since news of the IRS targeting scandal first broke in May 2013, Rep. Kelly has been a prominentvocalleader in the ongoing pursuit for answers and accountability. After earning a standing ovation for his fierce scolding of then-IRS commissioner Steven Miller at the Ways and Means Committee’s first-ever hearing on the scandal, The Washington Post’s Right Turn blog named Rep. Kelly its “Distinguished Pol of the Week.” The New York Post declared that Rep. Kelly’s words “ought to be emblazoned across the entryway of every IRS office in America.”
In response to the scandal, Rep. Kelly introduced the Government Employee Accountability Act, which would grant all federal agencies the power to fire reckless Senior Executive Service employees (such as ex-IRS official Lois Lerner) on the spot, or place them on “investigative leave” without pay. The legislation was passed by the House of Representatives on August 1, 2013, as part of the Stop Government Abuse Act (H.R. 2879) by a bipartisan vote of 239-176. Rep. Kelly re-introduced the bill on February 4, 2015.
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