(English) CF&P Applauds Congressional Effort to Rein in IRS and Prevent Implementationof Destructive Regulation

From The Center for Freedom and Prosperity

(Washington, D.C., Wednesday, July 20, 2011) The Center for Freedom and Prosperity (CF&P) is applauding the recent introduction of legislation (H.R. 2568) that will prevent the IRS from implementing an unnecessary and destructive regulation. The bipartisan legislation filed July 15th by Congressmen Bill Posey (R-FL) and Gregory Meeks (D-NY) would prevent the IRS from requiring banks to report nonresident alien deposit interest information, even though such interest is not taxed under U.S. law.

“The bureaucrats just don’t seem to get it, despite the clear and overwhelming opposition from the financial industry, lawmakers and the public each and every time the IRS has tried this scheme,” said CF&P President Andrew Quinlan. “It’s about time that Congress starts taking seriously the need to rein in the unelected bureaucrats who think that they should be making policy instead of following it,” he concluded, “and we are thankful for the leadership of Rep. Posey and Rep. Meeks for introducing this bill.”

The regulation (REG-146097-09) would put the interests of foreign tax collectors ahead of both U.S. law and economic interests. A 2004 study by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University looked at a similar regulation that only applied to fifteen countries and found that it would result in the loss of $88 billion in foreign investment. The current version of the proposed regulation would be much more destructive, as it would apply to deposits from citizens of any nation. Despite this evidence, the IRS has never performed a cost-benefit analysis of the regulation as required by Executive Order 12866 for any regulation that would have an annual effect of more than $100 million on the economy. The bureaucrats have blithely dismissed their legal obligation by claiming that their proposal is “not a significant regulatory action.”

The Center for Freedom and Prosperity has lead the opposition against all forms of the interest reporting regulation since it was first proposed in the waning days of the Clinton administration. Organized by CF&P, members of the Coalition for Tax Competition have testified at three separate IRS hearings on the issue held over the years, including the most recent on May 18, 2011, and written numerous letters to Administration, Congressional and Treasury officials. Opposing the regulation is a top priority of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity.