Since my first days in Congress, I have been committed to making our tax system fairer. I have focused on protecting the rights of our nation's taxpayers through IRS reform, providing relief to middle-class taxpayers, and cracking down on corporate tax loopholes.

Taxpayer Rights

I gave my first speech in the Senate on the rights of taxpayers. Since then I have worked to make the IRS more accountable to the citizens who pay their salaries.

I was a strong champion of the original Taxpayers' Bill of Rights, a law that guarantees taxpayers the right to have an attorney represent them before the IRS, forbids the IRS from using quotas for audits or property seizures, and allows taxpayers to recover financial damages caused by the IRS. Most important, the laws requires the IRS to explain to taxpayers, in plain English, these and all other rights to which they are entitled.

While the original Taxpayers Bill of Rights sent a strong message to many IRS officials, further reform was necessary to strengthen taxpayer rights. As such, I supported the Taxpayers' Rill of Rights II, which created the Office of Taxpayer Advocate to assist taxpayers in resolving problems with the IRS. Later, I joined Senators Bob Kerrey (D-NE) and Charles Grassley (R-IA) to pass the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act. This comprehensive law revamped the management and oversight of the IRS to make it more accountable to American taxpayers.

Fairness for Nevada Taxpayers

Since 1986, residents in states like Nevada have been penalized by virtue of the fact that Nevada doesn't have a state income tax. Last year, this discrimination was rectified with passage of the Jobs Creation Act of 2004 which allowed residents of states with no income tax to deduct the state sales taxes they pay. That relief - a matter of fairness, really - expires at the end of this year. That's why I cosponsored legislation (S. 27) that extends the state sales tax deduction permanently.

Tax Relief

I have always supported tax cuts that provide relief to working Nevada families and strengthen our economy. That's why I supported the Working Families Tax Relief Act, which extended the child tax credit, marriage penalty relief, the 10% tax bracket beyond 2004.

I also support reform of the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). Originally, the AMT was intended to prevent high-income individuals from avoiding their income tax obligations. An increasing number of middle-income Americans, however, will be affected by the AMT in the next few years. In 1999, about 1 million taxpayers were subject to the AMT. Without reform, that number will increase to 30 million by 2010.

Cracking Down on Corporate Tax Loopholes

I am fighting to prevent big corporations from using tax loopholes to escape their taxes and shift the burden to ordinary Americans. I have introduced the Corporate Patriot Enforcement Act to close a tax loophole that allows companies to avoid income taxes on all their foreign profits, a practice known as corporate expatriation.

Corporate expatriation occurs when a U.S. company files papers to move its company's "citizenship" to a tax haven country like Bermuda. Even though the company remains in the U.S. physically, the paper transaction exempts the company from paying taxes on its foreign profits. The company is taxed as though it is no longer an American firm.

The Corporate Patriot Enforcement Act will change tax law so corporate expatriates are treated exactly as though they were U.S. corporations, eliminating the tax gain that companies get when they expatriate. Dozens of U.S. companies are currently taking advantage of this loophole, and the practice drains billions of dollars from the Treasury, siphoning money from important needs like our schools and first responders, and adding to the crushing national debt that our children will have to shoulder. My legislation will stop this shameful practice.

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