Washington, DC: Congressmen Bob Goodlatte today introduced bipartisan legislation, the Tax Code Termination Act, to abolish the Internal Revenue Code.  He has been joined by over 65 members, both Republicans and Democrats, who have cosponsored his legislation.

 “The current tax system has spiraled out of control,” said Rep. Goodlatte.  “With Americans devoting a total of 7.4 billion hours each year to comply with the current tax code, we need tax simplification.”

This legislation will repeal the entire tax code, except portions that deal with Social Security and Medicare by December 31, 2010, and calls on Congress to approve a new Federal tax system by July of the same year.  This legislation has already been passed twice by the House of Representatives, first in 1998 by a vote of 219-209 and then in 2000 by a vote of 229-187.

 Each year Americans are confronted with a 17,000-page behemoth in the Internal Revenue Code when filing their federal tax returns.  Since 1954, the number of separate sections within the federal income tax code has increased by over 600%.  

 With three out of five Americans using a paid tax preparer, everyone can agree that the current tax system is broken, and keeping it is not in America’s best interest.  While many questions remain about the best way to reform our tax system, the Tax Code Termination Act takes the first step by forcing Congress to address this important issue.  Americans spend over $200 billion each year just to comply with our complicated tax code.  The only way to solve this problem is to fully confront it and abolish the current tax code.

“Today’s tax code is unfair, discourages savings and investment, and is impossibly complex,” continued Goodlatte.  “The Tax Code Termination Act will force Congress to finally debate and address fundamental tax reform.  Whichever simpler and fairer tax system is adopted, the key ingredients should be: a low rate for all Americans; tax relief for working people; protection of the rights of taxpayers and reduction in tax collection abuses; promotion of savings and investment; and encouragement of economic growth and job creation.”

The Tax Code Termination Act has been referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means for further consideration.