WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the House voted 240 to 182 to pass H.R. 5053, the Preventing IRS Abuse and Protecting Free Speech Act. This legislation, authored by Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Peter Roskam (R-IL), would prohibit the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from collecting the identity of people who donate to tax-exempt organizations.

As House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) said in support of the bill:

“We fought hard to push forward a ban on IRS political targeting as part of the PATH Act. And, last December, that ban was signed into law for the very first time.

“But we still have work to do to clean up the IRS and hold it more accountable to the taxpayers it serves. The Preventing IRS Abuse and Protecting Free Speech Act continues that critical effort. 

“This bill authored by Congressman Roskam would prohibit the IRS from collecting the identity of people who donate to tax-exempt organizations.

“During our Committee’s IRS political targeting investigation, we learned that the IRS not only singled out certain organizations for heightened scrutiny, but in some cases it even demanded they turn over a list of all their donors.

“These invasions of privacy are completely unacceptable.

“The bill before us today takes much-needed steps to protect taxpayer identities and ease the compliance burden on tax-exempt organizations.

“Most importantly, the bill helps ensure that Americans can never again be singled out by the IRS for their political beliefs.

“I’m grateful to Mr. Roskam for his leadership on this important issue, and I urge all my colleagues to join me in supporting the passage of this legislation.”