Congressman Patrick Murphy Voted for a Bipartisan Resolution That Would Enact Protections for Taxpayers

(Washington, DC) -- Today, Pennsylvania Congressman Patrick Murphy (D-8th District) voted for the Taxpayer Protection Act of 2007 in an effort to protect 8th District families. The measure, described as a Taxpayer Bill of Rights, is a bipartisan effort to add increased protections for taxpayers. The vote passed by a margin of 407 to 7. The bill will increase IRS outreach to provide taxpayers with stronger protections from identity theft and tax fraud. It cracks down on misleading websites that seek to get personal information by imitating the IRS, by increasing both civil and criminal penalties for these offenses. The bill would simplify tax filing requirements for businesses owned jointly by husbands and wives – permitting both the husband and wife to be credited for the payment of Social Security and Medicare taxes. Right now, only the spouse filing a return can claim those taxes. The bill would also make it easier for spouses to file as sole proprietors and not as a partnership. 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 (EITC).

“We need to make tax day easier for families and these protections will improve the process for taxpayers across the 8th District,” said Congressman Patrick Murphy. “The tax code is long, complicated and confusing but by instituting protections and restoring fiscal responsibility we can begin to go in a new direction. I am proud to have taken this step to protect 8th District families.”

This measure will help take steps toward real tax reform and begin to put the tax code back on the side of working families. In his first 100 days in office, Murphy has voted to support middle class families in the 8th District – including a vote for small business tax cuts and a vote opposing a measure that did not do enough to guarantee tax cuts for middle class families. One of the first pieces of legislation that Murphy supported was to re-instate Pay-As-You-Go budgeting rules to restore fiscal discipline to Congress.

Summary of Taxpayer Protection Act of 2007:

• Family business tax simplification: Family business tax simplification would allow both spouses in a family-owned business to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes as a sole proprietorship (rather than as a partnership).
• Identity theft: Require the IRS (in the course of a tax fraud investigation) to notify a taxpayer that there may have been an unauthorized use of the taxpayer’s (or dependent’s) identity.
• Wrongful levies: Provide an individual with a longer period of time to seek return of property (money or proceeds from the sale of property) resulting from a wrongful IRS levy, as well as for bringing a civil action. Allow a taxpayer to re-contribute individual retirement fund amounts as if the wrongful levy had never occurred.
• Unclaimed refunds: Allow the IRS to notify taxpayers on the Internet about unclaimed tax refunds, rather than only in the media.
• Predatory RALs: Prohibit the Secretary of Treasury (IRS) from providing debt indicators to any person if their business practices involve refund anticipation loans (plus related charges and fees) that are predatory.
• Misleading the public: Clarify that current rules prohibiting the misleading use of Department of Treasury names and symbols apply to internet domain names (e.g., IRS.com, IRS.net, IRS.org) and “phishing” and are subject to the higher-level civil and criminal penalties.
• EITC outreach: Require, to the extent possible, that the IRS conduct additional EITC outreach including notification of potential eligibility.
• Disclosure of prisoner information: Provide Federal Bureau of Prisons officials with certain information to prevent tax fraud schemes. (crime)
• FIRPTA non-foreign affidavits: Modify rules related to the dispositions of U.S. real property interests for non-foreign affidavits to better protect the social security numbers of U.S. transferors by allowing attorneys and title companies to collect the non-foreign affidavit.

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For Immediate Release, April 17, 2007

Contact: Adam Abrams, (202) 225-4276