Congress Should Reconsider Cruz Proposals to Rein In IRS, Protect Free Speech

WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, today released the following statement reaffirming the need for more accountability in the IRS.

“Tax Day is our annual reminder of how government spending directly impacts our daily lives,” Sen. Cruz said. “It’s particularly distressing to hand over our hard-earned dollars to the IRS this year in the wake of its illegal targeting of conservative groups. The IRS must never be used as a tool for partisan warfare and on this Tax Day, I ask my fellow members of Congress to immediately act on legislation to uphold the First Amendment rights of our citizens and ensure no individual or group is targeted based on their political views.”

In February, Sen. Cruz introduced two amendments in the Senate Judiciary Committee in response to proposed IRS rules that would have further stifled free speech even after its illegal targeting of conservative groups was revealed. Unfortunately, the amendments were defeated on a party-line vote.

Sen. Cruz’s first proposed amendment would prohibit an IRS employee from intentionally targeting individuals or groups based on their political views. It would make it a crime for an IRS employee to willfully discriminate against groups based solely on the political beliefs or policy statements held, expressed, or published by that organization.

His second proposed amendment would amend the tax code to use the bipartisan, independent Federal Election Commission’s (FEC) definitions to determine whether an organization is engaging in political activity. The IRS should focus on taxation, rather than determining what is political activity.

###