Crapo Statement on IRS Direct File Pilot Project

Washington, D.C.--Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) issued the following statement after the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) announced plans to begin a pilot project that would transform the now-supersized IRS into tax preparer, collector and enforcer:

“Having the IRS act as tax preparer, tax collector and tax enforcer raises significant conflicts of interest, would incur billions of dollars in development, and would expose exponentially more taxpayer information to misuse or abuse, providing hackers and identity thieves yet another IRS outlet to exploit.  Despite tax preparers providing tens of millions of free returns a year and having a fully functional Free File program at virtually no cost to taxpayers, the federal government entering into the software tax preparation business is an unnecessary expense that will only add to an out-of-control deficit.  There are also significant questions as to whether the IRS has the legal authority to implement such a program without congressional authorization.”

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