Is It Right For Our Government To Silence The Voices Of Average Americans?

Fair Tax . Org ^ | June 7, 2013 | Congressman Kevin Brady (TX-08) 

Is it right for our government to silence the voices of average Americans? What gives any agency the right to demand concerned citizens to give up their First Amendment rights?
This week I met six brave Americans who travelled to Capitol Hill to tell Congress what the Internal Revenue Service put them through. The only thing these civic-minded Americans did to incur this was try to share their principles with their communities. Their reward was to be alternately stonewalled and scrutinized by shameless bureaucrats.
Telling pro-life groups their IRS status hinged on them agreeing to not protest Planned Parenthood is not ok. Leaking donor information is not ok. Forcing Americans to give up by flooding them with reams of intrusive questions and document demands is not ok.
Becky Gerritson told us she was fearful for her country and that her government, that is supposed to work for every taxpayer, had “forgotten” their place.
Describing herself as “a born free, American woman – wife, mother and citizen,” she came to the Ways & Means Committee hearing to tell her government they forgot their place. Powerful words from a mom who never dreamed she would someday testify on Capitol Hill.
It is not the IRS’s responsibility to monitor any American’s speech. Nor should they ever assert any agenda.
Constitutional Law professor John Eastman, who chairs the National Organization for Marriage, testified that his organization’s confidential tax information ended up in the hands of the Human Right Campaign, which opposes traditional marriage. As he told our committee, if the IRS leaked his organization’s confidential tax documents, a “serious felony” was committed.
For the Laurens County Tea Party, the IRS process has made for a very long three years. After waiting for over two years to process the application, the IRS sought “extremely burdensome additional information”.
After cashing the Wetumpka Tea Party’s application fee check, the IRS waited over 450 days before sending an intrusive questionnaire requesting “90 pieces of additional information”.
The San Fernando Valley Patriots were warned about the penalty of perjury should they not answer all of the agency’s intrusive questions.
Why? Bureaucrats at the IRS had no legal right to these organization’s donor information, volunteer information or written communications.
Linchpins of Liberty Founder Kevin Kookogey found it disturbing that the IRS asked for the identities of their students. Would you want your minor child’s name given to the IRS?
It’s very chilling to be asked “Are you now or have you ever been...” questions. It’s chilling that an IRS bureaucrat sought to get Iowa Coalition for Life to give up their First Amendment right to protest Planned Parenthood. Sue Martinek’s question deserves an answer. “Why was the IRS protecting Planned Parenthood” against a ‘small Iowa prayer group’?
With three Congressional panels, including the Ways & Means Committee that I serve on, an Inspector General and many others digging deep, whoever gave the orders at the IRS can’t remain in the shadows for long.
Our nation’s tax code is so huge it holds back small businesses, creates annual stress on families – and as we are uncovering -- is used against those who disagree with the direction our country is headed.
House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp says our entire tax system is “rotten at the core, and it must be ripped out so we can start fresh.” I completely agree.
While it still lacks major support in Congress, more and more Americans are beginning to see that the best solution is the Fair Tax solution. Wouldn’t we all rather spread the good news about real tax reform and have April 15th be just another day?
In addition to being a senior member of the House Ways & Means Committee, Texas Congressman Kevin Brady also chairs the Joint Economic Committee and is a co-sponsor of HR 25.