FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Contact: (202) 225-7601
May 18 1999
No. OV-7
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 impact of complexity in the tax code for individual taxpayers and small businesses. The hearing will take place on Tuesday, May 25, 1999, 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 representatives of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Office of the Taxpayer Advocate, tax professional organizations, and individual tax practitioners. 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:
When the Federal income tax system was established in 1913, the legislation was only 19 pages long. Today, the Internal Revenue Code covers 2,300 pages, not counting regulations. The resulting compliance burden for taxpayers is enormous, especially for lower- and middle-income taxpayers and small businesses.
Many studies have documented the impact of complexity. For example, one study showed that U.S. taxpayers spent more than five billion hours preparing tax returns with compliance costs of more than $200 billion in 1998. Two-thirds of compliance costs were borne by small businesses. Another study has shown that some small businesses pay more than seven dollars in compliance costs for every dollar they pay in taxes.
Because of the problems caused by the complexity of the current tax code, there are several efforts in Congress to replace the tax code. However, in the interim, simplification of the most complex provisions of the Code may help to reduce significantly the burden on individual taxpayers and small businesses.
In announcing the hearing, Chairman Houghton stated: "Sixty-six percent of respondents in a recent Associated Press poll said that the Federal tax system is too complicated. The same poll showed that over half of those surveyed, 56 percent, pay someone else to complete their returns. When you consider that only 30 percent of taxpayers itemize, that is a good number of people who are paying someone else to fill out their income tax forms. Something is wrong when so many taxpayers with relatively straightforward returns lack confidence in their ability to fill them out."
FOCUS OF THE HEARING:
The Subcommittee will review current tax law to identify the impact of complexity, along with a number of proposals to simplify the tax code.
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 5.1 format, with their name, address, and hearing date noted on a label, by the close of business, Tuesday, June 8, 1999, 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 5.1 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.