WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Senator Pat Roberts, a senior member of the Senate Committee on Finance, today told John Koskinen, President Obama's nominee for Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that the overburdened agency must stay out of politics following the agency's unlawful intimidation of political groups. (audio and video here)

"Given all of the issues with the current tax code, with the IRS’ difficulty in implementing the current system, with fraud rife in a number of programs, and with the huge work load hitting now on Obamacare, and its politically motivated targeting of non-profit groups, we need to fundamentally re-think the federal tax system," Roberts said. "A FAIR Tax plan would be a good start."

The following are Senator Roberts' remarks as prepared for delivery at the Finance Committee hearing on the nomination:

“When we met earlier this fall, you acknowledged that the Internal Revenue Service is stretched very thin, and that its role in implementing Affordable Care Act will necessarily result in the scaling down of some of IRS’ core functions.

“The question is, in implementing this law, will you be able to more with less or less with less?

“But this brings to mind larger issues with the agency. Have we asked the Internal Revenue Service to do too much? Is the IRS is too entrenched in everyone’s life?

“I have zero confidence that the agency you are being asked to lead will be able to take on the Affordable Care Act in an efficient, effective way, or in a way that does not increase the burdens all taxpayers face in dealing with the tax laws.

“I also have zero confidence that the IRS will be able to implement the Affordable Care Act while preventing more fraud and abuse within the tax system.

“In fact, the Treasury inspector general has already identified substantive weaknesses in the IRS’ work to prevent fraud and abuse implementing the Affordable Care Act.

“This has been confirmed in hearings held recently by Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers in the House, where it has been determined that the Affordable Care Act is rife with security problems.

“The Affordable Care Act may be one step too far, one “ask” too much for the IRS to handle.

“But now we see the agency taking on a new role, re-writing the rules of political speech.

“Forgive me, but I thought we already had the Federal Elections Commission working in this space.

“How is the tax administrator, already stretched thin and taking on a massive role in our health care system, going to be able to handle free speech issues after having been caught selectively and egregiously attacking the First Amendment right to free speech?

“The IRS has not been able to conduct their current limited role in this area without engaging in political black listing.

“It’s hard to see why the Administration discounts these issues, particularly when this committee continues its bipartisan investigation into the IRS’ actions.

“On a deeper level, I find it hard to understand how IRS will be able to conduct a much broader role in regulating political activity -- Right or Left, Democrat or Republican -- without damaging Americans’ ability to engage in free political discourse.

“Given all of the issues with the current tax code, with the IRS’ difficulty in implementing the current system, with fraud rife in a number of programs, and with the huge work load hitting now with the health care law, and its politically motivated targeting of non-profit groups, is it time to fundamentally re-think the federal tax system?

“First step, we should heed the admonition detailed yesterday in the Wall Street Journal and get the Internal Revenue Service out of politics permanently.

“I would be interested in your comments on this?

“Clearly, the biggest source of the IRS’ problem is not its resources, but the overly complex, intrusive income tax system.

“This is what needs reform and why I support a fundamental restructuring of the tax system, such as the proposed FAIR Tax.

“We need to disentangle the tax code from the economy -- we need to disengage the tax system as much as possible from economic decision making.

“To do this, I believe that we need to start over:  to reduce complexity, to make the tax system fairer and less burdensome, and to permit our companies to better compete in international markets.

“The FAIR Tax is the best place to start with this effort.”

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