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Larson: ON TAX DAY Congress on the Side of AMERICA'S Taxpayers

April 17, 2007
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:April 17, 2007

Larson: ON TAX DAY Congress on the Side of AMERICA?S Taxpayers
Larson praises House passage of Taxpayer Protection Act

WASHINGTON- Today, Congressman John B. Larson (CT-01) issued the following statement praising passage of the Taxpayer Protection Act of 2007 (H.R. 1677), which passed the U.S. House of Representatives. The Taxpayer Protection Act will help both individual taxpayers and small businesses. It will increase outreach on various tax credits and provide taxpayers with stronger protections from identity theft and tax fraud.

?Today, we took step in the right direction and passed a bipartisan bill that will help protect America?s taxpayers by addressing the issues of identity theft and tax fraud. With over $10 billion in unclaimed tax credits, this bill would also increase outreach for credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit, of which thousands in Connecticut are eligible but do not claim. Today?s bill is a first step to ensure that America?s taxpayers aren?t taken advantage of and get all of the money back from the government that they deserve.

With the complexity of our tax code at an all time high and a tax gap that has grown to over $290 billion, Democrats remain committed to simplifying the tax code and ensuring that it works for all working families. The Democratic Budget also provides for a long term fix to the Alternative Minimum Tax that would provide a tax cut for millions of American middle class families.?

The Taxpayer Protection Act requires the IRS to notify a taxpayer that there may have been unauthorized use of the taxpayer?s identity; it cracks down on misleading websites that seek to get personal information by imitating the IRS (ie-irs.com, irs.net); It would simplify tax filing requirements for businesses owned jointly by husbands and wives; It would also strengthen IRS outreach to make sure that people know that they are entitled to tax refunds or to payments under the Earned Income Tax Credit; and also increases taxpayer protections from "predatory" providers of refund anticipation loans.


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Issues:Economy