'It's Incomprehensible': Mike Crapo Bemoans Tax Code's Fairness For Taxpayers

3 months ago

During a Senate Finance Committee hearing, Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) questioned US Tax Court Nominees about ensuring fairness in tax code proceedings.

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00:00Well, first of all, thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your questions, because they are exactly the line of questioning that I want to pursue.

00:07And so, and I have, I also very much appreciated the answers that each of you have already given to this.

00:13I don't want you to just restate what you just said.

00:17I'm going to go through a little bit of a question here along the same lines that Senator Whiten did,

00:22and just ask you to make a brief statement, a commitment, that you will work to achieve fairness in the judicial system that you will administer.

00:31But to lead up to that, as Senator Whiten has already said, the tax code is often perceived,

00:38particularly by those who do not have the resources to hire, you know, an army of lawyers to help them.

00:47It's incomprehensible.

00:49I can remember, in terms of the complexity of the tax code, this is going back about 15 or 20 years,

00:55so I may have the recollection wrong here, but it seems to me that one of our national magazines about 15 or 20 years ago

01:02created a family of four example and gave it a few little tax twists,

01:08and then hired three or four different tax preparer types to do the taxes for this family of four.

01:14Not a super complicated deal, but just some things with a few tax issues in it.

01:19And of the people that they hired to do the tax returns for this sample family,

01:26they got three or four different answers for what the tax return ought to look like.

01:32The code is that complicated.

01:35And when you can imagine a citizen who's brought into court by the IRS,

01:42one of the more feared agencies in the United States,

01:47they are scared when they come into your courtroom,

01:52and they want to know that they're going to get fairness.

01:55And so that's exactly where my questions come down.

01:59Let's add to this the fact that the IRS Office of Chief Counsel is responsible for representing the government

02:06in matters before the tax court, and it will be there in the courtroom in every one of these cases.

02:11And the American people know that.

02:14And I think that what I know that what Senator Wyden and I are both angling for here

02:19is just a solid commitment from you that you will assure that the taxpayers receive fairness.

02:26I don't need you to go into a detailed explanation, but just please give me that commitment

02:30that the taxpayers will receive fairness in your courtrooms.

02:35Thank you, Member Crapo. Thank you.

02:38You're absolutely correct. Fairness is the foundation of our court systems

02:43and needs to be the foundation of our tax system.

02:46And so as a judge, I commit to treating all taxpayers fairly and evenly.

02:53And, you know, part of that is communication and making sure that there are no surprises,

02:57that they know what's coming, they understand their rights, they understand the process.

03:01All right. Thank you. Mr. Geiter, just quickly, will you assure that there will be fairness in your courtroom?

03:06Yes, absolutely, Senator.

03:08Ms. Fung?

03:09I also commit to fairness in the courtroom, Senator.

03:12All right. Now, the reason I wanted you to be quick is because I have a second question,

03:16and it's another angle on this very issue.

03:21Less than two weeks ago, the Supreme Court overturned the legal doctrine

03:26that courts should defer to an agency's interpretation of an ambiguous statute,

03:31the so-called Chevron Doctrine.

03:35In light of this court case, there will be heightened importance for judicial awareness

03:40of agencies' actions and review of agencies' interpretations of the very law

03:46that will be interpreted in your courtrooms.

03:49If confirmed, and upon initial impression,

03:52how would you face this challenge of scrutinizing regulatory actions?

03:58For example, would you be willing to rule that a Treasury regulation is invalid

04:03if the guidance does not align with the statutory language and the legislative history?

04:10Mr. Arbeit.

04:12Thank you, Member Crapo. Thank you.

04:15The foundation of every legal analysis is finding an interpretation

04:22that is consistent with the statute and that reflects the intent of Congress.

04:26So, yes.

04:28Mr. Guider.

04:31Senator, thank you. Yes.

04:33The Supreme Court has said that the tax court, for example,

04:37will no longer simply defer to the agency's interpretation.

04:41We have to conduct, assuming I'm confirmed,

04:44conduct our own analysis of the code and the regulation,

04:48so I will be fully prepared to do that.

04:50Thank you. Ms. Fung.

04:52Yes, Senator.

04:53Essentially, looking at the law as provided and looking at everything in terms of intent

04:59and obviously the goal is to get to the right answer,

05:04and so that's what we need to do in terms of looking at the law before us.

05:08Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

05:10Thank you.

'It's Incomprehensible': Mike Crapo Bemoans Tax Code's Fairness For Taxpayers

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