H.R. 882: Contracting and Tax Accountability Act of 2013

GovTrack’s Bill Summary

We don’t have a summary available yet.

Library of Congress Summary

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.

House Republican Conference Summary

The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.

This summary can be found at http://www.gop.gov/bill/113/1/hr882.

Background

Most taxpayers file accurate tax returns and pay the taxes they owe punctually, regardless of their income.  Federal contractors and grantees should do the same.  The federal government spends more than $1 trillion in contracts and grants annually (in fiscal year 2012, $514 billion in contracts and $536 billion in grants), and that money should be going to responsible businesses and individuals.

The Contracting and Tax Accountability Act of 2013 addresses this issue by prohibiting individuals, partnerships or companies with seriously delinquent tax debt, who are not making a good faith effort to pay their taxes or dispute them, from receiving federal contracts or grants.

Summary

H.R. 882 provides that any person (defined as an individual, partnership, or corporation) that has seriously delinquent tax debts shall be ineligible for receiving Federal contracts or grants above the simplified acquisition threshold, currently set at $150,000.  The bill requires any person applying for a contract or grant with the Federal government to submit a form certifying that they do not have a seriously delinquent tax debt, and authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to disclose relevant information to the agency head.  H.R. 882 also requires the heads of executive agencies to propose persons for debarment if: (1) their application for a federal contract includes a certification that they have a seriously delinquent tax debt; or (2) the agency head receives information from the Secretary of the Treasury showing that the applicant’s certification form is false.  The debarment process may be waived, however, if the head of the executive agency provides a written finding to Congress of “urgent and compelling circumstances significantly affecting the interests of the United States.”

The bill defines seriously delinquent tax debts as, “an outstanding debt under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 for which a notice of lien has been filed in public records…”  Tax debts are excepted if: (1) debts are being paid in a timely manner; or (2) a collection due process hearing has been requested or is pending.  Also, H.R. 882 specifies that the term ‘person’ does not include an individual seeking assistance through a grant entitlement program.

Cost

CBO estimates that H.R. 882 would “increase administrative costs government-wide by less than $500,000 annually, assuming the availability of appropriated funds,” and because of the potential to “affect direct spending by agencies not funded through annual appropriations,” pay-as-you-go procedures apply.

House Democratic Caucus Summary

The House Democratic Caucus does not provide summaries of bills.

So, yes, we display the House Republican Conference’s summaries when available even if we do not have a Democratic summary available. That’s because we feel it is better to give you as much information as possible, even if we cannot provide every viewpoint.

We’ll be looking for a source of summaries from the other side in the meanwhile.