FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Contact: (202) 225-7601
March 20, 2000
No. OV-17
Congressman Amo Houghton (R-NY), Chairman, Subcommittee on Oversight of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing on the 2000 tax return filing season and the Administration's budget request for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for fiscal year 2001. The hearing will take place on Tuesday, March 28, 2000, in the main Committee hearing room, 1100 Longworth House Office Building, beginning at 2:00 p.m.
In view of the limited time available to hear witnesses, oral testimony at this hearing will be from invited witnesses only. Witnesses will include IRS Commissioner Charles O. Rossotti, representatives from the U.S. General Accounting Office, and professional tax practitioner groups. However, any individual or organization not scheduled for an oral appearance may submit a written statement for consideration by the Committee and for inclusion in the printed record of the hearing.
BACKGROUND:
The 2000 tax return filing season refers to the period of time between January 1st and April 15th when Americans will file over 215 million primary tax returns. During this period, the IRS is expected to issue over 95 million tax refunds and answer 118 million telephone calls from taxpayers asking for assistance.
The Administration's budget requests $8.9 billion to fund the IRS for fiscal year 2001. This level of funding will support 100,133 employees who will collect about $1.9 trillion in taxes, according to Administration estimates. (Note: These figures include the $145 million and 2,082 employees, technically outside the spending caps for the IRS, devoted to administering the earned income tax credit.) The fiscal year 2001 budget request represents an increase of $769 million (or 9 percent) over the fiscal year 2000 operating level, as well as an increase of 2,528 employees (technically referred to as full-time equivalents or FTEs) over fiscal year 2000 staffing levels.
Beyond supporting the traditional activities of the filing season, the fiscal year 2001 budget request also addresses several additional activities. First, the budget seeks to reverse the decline in the IRS workforce by proposing to increase IRS staffing levels by 2,835 FTEs over two fiscal years, 2000 and 2001. Described by the acronym STABLE (Staffing Tax Administration for Balance and Equity), the proposal would assign about half of the new employees to work in the customer service area, while the other half would be assigned to examination and collection activities. Second, the budget requests $42 million to continue the Organizational Modernization program which would reorganize the IRS into four operating divisions correlated to the needs of taxpayers. The new operating divisions will be:
(1) wage and investment income, (2) small business and self employed, (3) large and mid-size businesses, and (4) tax-exempt organizations and governmental entities. Third, the IRS budget request includes $119 million for its Investment Technology Account to support the project to upgrade the IRS' computer system.
In announcing the hearing, Chairman Houghton stated: "The IRS is seeking significantly higher funding and significantly more employees for next year. The Subcommittee should review this request carefully. We need to give the IRS the resources it needs to operate effectively, but why is it asking for such a large increase? It seems to go against the trend of government downsizing which the President and Congress began several years ago. What would the increases mean for the IRS, and more importantly, what would they mean for the taxpayers?"
FOCUS OF THE HEARING:
The Subcommittee will review the 2000 tax filing season and explore how the IRS intends to allocate its fiscal year 2001 budget resources. It will examine the Administration's justification for the significant increase in both funding and staffing proposed for the IRS. It also will review the progress of the program to modernize the IRS' organizational structure, and the progress of its information systems program.
DETAILS FOR SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN COMMENTS:
Any person or organization wishing to submit a written statement for the printed record of the hearing should submit six (6) single-spaced copies of their statement, along with an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette in WordPerfect or MS Word format, with their name, address, and hearing date noted on a label, by the close of business, Tuesday, April 11, 2000, to A.L. Singleton, Chief of Staff, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives, 1102 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515. If those filing written statements wish to have their statements distributed to the press and interested public at the hearing, they may deliver 200 additional copies for this purpose to the Subcommittee on Oversight office, room 1136 Longworth House Office Building, by close of business the day before the hearing.
FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS:
Each statement presented for printing to the Committee by a witness, any written statement or exhibit submitted for the printed record or any written comments in response to a request for written comments must conform to the guidelines listed below. Any statement or exhibit not in compliance with these guidelines will not be printed, but will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.
1. All statements and any accompanying exhibits for printing must be submitted on an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette in WordPerfect or MS Word format, typed in single space and may not exceed a total of 10 pages including attachments. Witnesses are advised that the Committee will rely on electronic submissions for printing the official hearing record.
2. Copies of whole documents submitted as exhibit material will not be accepted for printing. Instead, exhibit material should be referenced and quoted or paraphrased. All exhibit material not meeting these specifications will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.
3. A witness appearing at a public hearing, or submitting a statement for the record of a public hearing, or submitting written comments in response to a published request for comments by the Committee, must include on his statement or submission a list of all clients, persons, or organizations on whose behalf the witness appears.
4. A supplemental sheet must accompany each statement listing the name, company, address, telephone and fax numbers where the witness or the designated representative may be reached. This supplemental sheet will not be included in the printed record.
The above restrictions and limitations apply only to material being submitted for printing. Statements and exhibits or supplementary material submitted solely for distribution to the Members, the press, and the public during the course of a public hearing may be submitted in other forms.
The
Committee seeks to make its facilities accessible to persons with
disabilities. If you are in need of special accommodations, please
call 202-225-1721 or 202-226-3411 TTD/TTY in advance of the event
(four business days notice is requested). Questions with regard to
special accommodation needs in general (including availability of
Committee materials in alternative formats) may be directed to the
Committee as noted above.