THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 17, 1996 TAG: 9604170348
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVE SKIDMORE, ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
A day after an acrimonious spat over a constitutional tax-limitation amendment, House Republicans and Democrats joined in bipartisan harmony Tuesday to approve a new Taxpayer Bill of Rights.
Adopted 425-0, it would allow taxpayers to sue the Internal Revenue Service for up to $1 million for reckless collections and includes more than a dozen other provisions aimed at strengthening taxpayers in disputes with the agency.
``In the David vs. Goliath fight between the taxpayer and the IRS, this bill is the slingshot the taxpayer can now use to win his or her fight,'' said Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer, R-Texas.
The bill must still be considered by the Senate.
The House vote came a day after most Americans' deadline for filing 1995 income tax returns and as part of an effort by House GOP leaders to highlight tax issues. Late Monday night, the House fell 37 votes short of the required two-thirds majority for approving a constitutional amendment restricting Congress' ability to raise taxes.
Many of the changes made Tuesday are small, but they add up to a significant benefit for taxpayers who aren't lucky enough to file their returns and get a refund with no questions asked, said the bill's lead sponsor, Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-Conn., chairwoman of the Ways and Means oversight subcommittee.
``While procedural tax rules may not seem glamorous, they can be extremely important in deciding the outcome of a dispute with the IRS,'' she said.
Rep. Robert Matsui of California, the senior Democrat on Johnson's subcommittee and the other lead sponsor, said President Clinton would sign the bill if it is sent to him. It was previously passed by the House and Senate in December as part of a massive balanced-budget and tax-cut bill that Clinton vetoed.
Since then, about one-third of the changes in the bill have been adopted administratively by the IRS, said Les Samuels, assistant Treasury secretary for tax policy.
The fate of the measure in the Senate is in doubt. Finance Committee Chairman William Roth, R-Del., has said he would move it only as part of a larger general tax bill, which would have a greater chance of being vetoed by Clinton.
The Ways and Means Committee cited two real-life examples of taxpayers who would benefit from the bill. A San Francisco charity, Child Evangelism Fellowship, was penalized $64.43 when a new volunteer treasurer mistakenly sent a payroll withholding check to the IRS rather than to a Federal Reserve Bank, as required. The bill would allow the IRS to waive penalties for such innocent slipups.
Ramon Portillo, a painting subcontractor in El Paso, Texas, was assessed for back taxes after he reported income of $13,925 and the contractor submitted a form showing he was paid $35,305. The form was ``presumed to be correct'' by the IRS, even though the contractor could only substantiate $13,925 in payments.
The bill would require the IRS, in such disputes, to prove the information was correct. Taxpayers also would get the right to sue anyone filing a false information return, such as a Form 1099 or Form W-2. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
How they voted
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