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Let me thank and congratulate Secretary O'Neill and Assistant Secretary Weinberger for their leadership in putting together and pushing forward this excellent package.
Boiled down to their essence, these initiatives are about one thing. And that's fairness for the overwhelming majority of America's taxpayers who pay what they owe every year. Nothing undermines the idea of fairness in the tax system more than when it seems that the average taxpayer who has taxes withheld from his or her wages is being forced to pay - while big corporations or very wealthy individuals can use high-priced tax advisors to escape taxes.
We need these new initiatives to identify and keep pace with ever changing exotic tax devices that manipulate highly technical provisions of the tax law in inappropriate ways.
To deal effectively with this problem, we need better disclosure so we can evaluate these devices openly. Disclosure is what helps us distinguish between a legitimate business transaction and one that inappropriately manipulates the code.
I don't think that increased disclosure requirements should be objectionable to most taxpayers. If you have a transaction or device that's acceptable under the law, why isn't it acceptable to disclose it to the IRS for us to examine. If we agree that it is legitimate, that eliminates any further concern. If we don't agree, there are ample mechanisms to resolve disputes over technical issues.
With the help of these initiatives, we believe we will increase the effectiveness in combating the use of abusive tax shelters without unduly burdening taxpayers.