To prohibit the implementation of discriminatory precertification requirements for the earned income tax credit.

April 30, 2003

Mr. RANGEL (for himself, Mr. STARK, Mr. MATSUI, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. KLECZKA, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts, Mr. JEFFERSON, Mr. BECERRA, Mr. POMEROY, Mr. SANDLIN, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, and Ms. DELAURO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

To prohibit the implementation of discriminatory precertification requirements for the earned income tax credit.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

The Congress hereby finds that:

(1) Current law authorizes the Internal Revenue Service to impose additional earned income tax credit eligibility requirements, such as the current recertification program, only in cases in which a taxpayer has made prior improper claims of the earned income tax credit.

(2) The Internal Revenue Service is planning to implement an earned income tax credit precertification program that differs from what is authorized under current law in that it would apply to taxpayers who fall within broad categories even though they made no prior improper claims for the credit.

(3) There is no precedent in the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 for denying or delaying a tax refund that is apparently properly claimed on a tax return merely because the taxpayer meets a certain profile.

(4) The proposed earned income tax credit precertification program is an affront to our sense of fairness because compliant taxpayers are treated differently solely by reason of differing family structures or relationships and solely by reason of the fact that they are claiming a tax benefit designed to assist the working poor.

(5) No other family-related tax benefit, such as the dependency exemption or child tax credit, is subject to such a precertification requirement; and there is no such precertification requirement for abusive tax shelters purchased by corporations or for tax benefits claimed by higher income individuals.

SEC. 2. PROPOSED EARNED INCOME TAX CREDIT PROFILING NOT PERMITTED.

The Internal Revenue Service shall not implement any system of precertification for the earned income tax credit that applies to taxpayers who have not made prior improper claims unless such a system is hereafter specifically authorized by law.

END