NSBA Applauds Grassley for 'Tax Gap' Comments

Aug 15, 2007

National Small Business Association President Todd McCracken sent a letter to Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) thanking the ranking member of the Finance Committee for his comments regarding a new Government Accountability Office report entitled "Tax Gap/A Strategy for Reducing the Gap Should Include Options for Addressing Sole Proprietor Noncompliance."

In April, NSBA launched an initiative aimed at defeating efforts to narrow the so-called "tax gap" by unfairly targeting the small-business community. NSBA fully supports efforts to collect legally-owed tax revenues, but not at the undue expense of the privacy and integrity of honest, hard-working entrepreneurs.

"Honest taxpayers shouldn't be forced to bear the brunt of [Internal Revenue Service] efforts to crack down on bad actors," Grassley said in a press release issued by the committee. "I hope to get additional reality-based comments from taxpayers about other options put forward by the Government Accountability Office to increase compliance without overburdening small-business owners."

"A focus on sole proprietors will most likely increase costs and burdens to small businesses who are already at risk of being subjected to needless and unwarranted regulatory burdens in an attempt to capture the few 'bad apples' that do not fulfill their tax obligations," McCracken wrote in the letter to Grassley. "Any recommendations seeking to increase compliance and lessen the 'tax gap' also should seek to refrain from increasing the regulatory burden on taxpayers. Ensuring comprehensive, effective taxpayer services is essential to accomplishing compliance. Additionally, we believe efforts to close the 'tax gap' must focus on overall simplification, eliminating inequities within the tax code, and enhancing taxpayer education and outreach."

More information about NSBA's "tax gap" initiative can be found at preventirsabuse.org.

For 70 years, NSBA has been an advocate for the interests of small business throughout the country. NSBA, which reaches more than 150,000 small businesses, is the nation's oldest small-business advocacy organization.