Members of Congress Tax Liability and Garnishment Accountability Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6177 To require Members of Congress to disclose delinquent tax liabilities and wage garnishments, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 10, 2020 Mr. MCCARTHY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration A BILL To require Members of Congress to disclose delinquent tax liabilities and wage garnishments, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Members of Congress 4 Tax Liability and Garnishment Accountability Act of 5 2020’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6177.IH H6177 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6177 IH SEC. 2. REQUIRING MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO DISCLOSE 1 TAX LIABILITY AND WAGE GARNISHMENT IN 2 ANNUAL FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE REPORTS. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 102(a) of the Ethics in 4 Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) is amended by 5 adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘(9)(A) For individuals described in section 7 101(f)(9)— 8 ‘‘(i) the amount of any delinquent tax liability 9 owed to the United States or any State or unit of 10 local government; and 11 ‘‘(ii) the amount of any garnishment against 12 the individual’s salary. 13 ‘‘(B) In this paragraph— 14 ‘‘(i) the term ‘delinquent tax liability’ means 15 any unpaid tax liability which has been assessed and 16 with respect to which all judicial and administrative 17 remedies have been exhausted, or have lapsed; and 18 ‘‘(ii) any delinquent tax liability of an entity 19 more than 50 percent of the stock of which in the 20 case of a corporation (by vote or value), or 50 per- 21 cent of the capital and profits interest of which in 22 the case of an entity other than a corporation, is 23 owned directly or indirectly by an individual shall be 24 treated as a delinquent tax liability of such indi- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6177.IH H6177 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6177 IH vidual in proportion to such individual’s ownership 1 interest in such entity.’’. 2 (b) INCLUSION IN REPORT.—Section 102(b)(1)(A) of 3 the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) 4 is amended by striking ‘‘paragraph (1)’’ and inserting 5 ‘‘paragraphs (1) and (9)’’. 6 (c) FEDERAL TAX LIABILITY.— 7 (1) REQUIRING GARNISHMENT OF COMPENSA- 8 TION.—A Member of Congress who discloses a delin- 9 quent tax liability under section 102(a)(9) of the 10 Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (as added by sub- 11 section (a)) shall, not later than 30 calendar days 12 after filing the form, make an arrangement with the 13 Secretary of the Senate or the Chief Administrative 14 Officer of the House of Representatives, as the case 15 may be, and the Internal Revenue Service or the 16 State or unit of local government involved, as the 17 case may be, to have an appropriate amount of the 18 Member’s salary designated to pay the taxes owed to 19 the United States or the State or unit of local gov- 20 ernment involved within a reasonable time period. 21 (2) MEMBER OF CONGRESS DEFINED.—In this 22 subsection, the term ‘‘Member of Congress’’ means 23 a Senator or a Representative in, or Delegate or 24 Resident Commissioner to, the Congress. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6177.IH H6177 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6177 IH SEC. 3. HOLDING SALARIES OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS IN 1 ESCROW UNTIL REPAYMENT OF DELINQUENT 2 TAX LIABILITY. 3 (a) HOLDING SALARIES IN ESCROW.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—If a Member of Congress 5 who has disclosed a delinquent tax liability under 6 section 102(a)(9) of the Ethics in Government Act 7 of 1978 (as added by section 2(a)) has not met the 8 deadline under section 2(c)(1) to make the arrange- 9 ment required under such section to pay the taxes 10 owed, during the period described in paragraph (2) 11 the payroll administrator of that House of Congress 12 shall— 13 (A) withhold from the Member’s compensa- 14 tion such amount as may be directed by the 15 Secretary of the Treasury (in the case of a de- 16 linquent tax liability owed to the United States) 17 or the State or unit of local government in- 18 volved (in the case of a delinquent tax liability 19 owed to a State or unit of local government) to 20 pay the taxes owed within a reasonable period 21 of time; and 22 (B) deposit in an escrow account the re- 23 maining portion of the payments otherwise re- 24 quired to be made during such period for the 25 compensation of the Member and release such 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6177.IH H6177 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6177 IH payments to the Member only upon the expira- 1 tion of such period. 2 (2) PERIOD DESCRIBED.—With respect to a 3 Member of Congress, the period described in this 4 paragraph is the period which begins on the date on 5 which the Secretary of the Treasury (in the case of 6 a delinquent tax liability owed to the United States) 7 or the State or unit of local government involved (in 8 the case of a delinquent tax liability owed to a State 9 or unit of local government) provides the notification 10 described in paragraph (3) to the payroll adminis- 11 trator and ends on the earlier of— 12 (A) the day on which the Secretary of the 13 Treasury or the State or unit of local govern- 14 ment involved (as the case may be) notifies the 15 payroll administrator that the Member’s delin- 16 quent tax liability has been repaid; or 17 (B) the last day of the Congress during 18 which amounts are withheld under this section. 19 (3) NOTIFICATION DESCRIBED.—With respect 20 to a Member of Congress, a notification described in 21 this paragraph is a notification from the Secretary 22 of the Treasury or the State or unit of local govern- 23 ment involved (as the case may be) containing— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6177.IH H6177 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6177 IH (A) a statement that the Member has not 1 met the deadline under section 2(c)(1) to make 2 the arrangement required under such section to 3 pay the taxes owed; and 4 (B) a statement of the amount to be with- 5 held from the Member’s compensation under 6 paragraph (1)(A). 7 (4) WITHHOLDING AND REMITTANCE OF 8 AMOUNTS FROM PAYMENTS HELD IN ESCROW.—The 9 payroll administrator shall provide for the same 10 withholding and remittance with respect to a pay- 11 ment deposited in an escrow account under para- 12 graph (1) that would apply to the payment if the 13 payment were not subject to paragraph (1). 14 (5) RELEASE OF AMOUNTS AT END OF THE 15 CONGRESS.—In order to ensure that this section is 16 carried out in a manner that shall not vary the com- 17 pensation of Senators or Representatives in violation 18 of the twenty-seventh article of amendment to the 19 Constitution of the United States, the payroll ad- 20 ministrator of a House of Congress shall release for 21 payment to a Member of that House of Congress 22 any amounts remaining in an escrow account for the 23 Member under this section on the last day of the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6177.IH H6177 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6177 IH Congress during which amounts are withheld under 1 this section. 2 (6) ROLE OF SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.— 3 The Secretary of the Treasury shall provide the pay- 4 roll administrators of the Houses of Congress with 5 such assistance as may be necessary to enable the 6 payroll administrators to carry out this section. 7 (b) PAYROLL ADMINISTRATOR DEFINED.—In this 8 section, the ‘‘payroll administrator’’ of a House of Con- 9 gress means— 10 (1) in the case of the House of Representatives, 11 the Chief Administrative Officer of the House of 12 Representatives, or an employee of the Office of the 13 Chief Administrative Officer who is designated by 14 the Chief Administrative Officer to carry out this 15 section; and 16 (2) in the case of the Senate, the Secretary of 17 the Senate, or an employee of the Office of the Sec- 18 retary of the Senate who is designated by the Sec- 19 retary to carry out this section. 20 SEC. 4. REPORTING OF INFORMATION ON GARNISHMENT 21 OF COMPENSATION. 22 (a) COMPENSATION OF MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE.— 23 Section 106(b) of the House of Representatives Adminis- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6177.IH H6177 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 6177 IH trative Reform Technical Corrections Act (2 U.S.C. 1 5535(b)) is amended— 2 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 3 (5); 4 (2) by redesignating paragraph (6) as para- 5 graph (7); and 6 (3) by inserting after paragraph (5) the fol- 7 lowing new paragraph: 8 ‘‘(6) if during the period covered by the report, 9 the Chief Administrative Officer withheld amounts 10 from a Member’s compensation under section 3(a) of 11 the Members of Congress Tax Liability and Garnish- 12 ment Accountability Act of 2020 or under an order 13 of garnishment which required the Chief Administra- 14 tive Officer to withhold a certain amount from the 15 Member’s compensation to satisfy a debt owed by 16 the Member to another person (other than amounts 17 withheld under an agreement entered into by the 18 Secretary of the Treasury under section 6159 of the 19 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 or amounts withheld 20 pursuant to a compromise of a case under section 21 7122 of such Code), the identification of the Mem- 22 ber and the amount withheld; and’’. 23 (b) COMPENSATION OF SENATORS.—Section 105(a) 24 of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 1965 (2 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6177.IH H6177 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 6177 IH U.S.C. 4108) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 1 lowing new paragraph: 2 ‘‘(7) If during the period covered by a report under 3 paragraph (1), the Secretary of the Senate withheld 4 amounts from a Senator’s compensation under section 5 3(a) of the Members of Congress Tax Liability and Gar- 6 nishment Accountability Act of 2020 or under an order 7 of garnishment which required the Secretary to withhold 8 a certain amount from the Senator’s compensation to sat- 9 isfy a debt owed by the Senator to another person, the 10 Secretary shall include in the report the identification of 11 the Senator and the amount withheld. The previous sen- 12 tence does not apply in the case of amounts withheld 13 under an agreement entered into by the Secretary of the 14 Treasury under section 6159 of the Internal Revenue 15 Code of 1986 or amounts withheld pursuant to a com- 16 promise of a case under section 7122 of such Code.’’. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6177.IH H6177 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS