Congress may allow IRS credit card access
Business First of Buffalo – by Kent Hoover Bizjournals.com
Congress is on the verge of requiring payment card processors to tell the Internal Revenue Service how much money merchants receive through credit card and debit card transactions.
The Bush administration thinks this kind of third-party reporting of revenue would encourage more businesses to report their income accurately. This could help close the tax gap — the difference between what the government is owed in taxes and what it actually collects.
Congress views the requirement as an easy way of raising revenue to pay for other tax cuts or additional government spending. It estimates the plan could raise nearly $10 billion in 10 years.
Both the House and the Senate included the reporting requirement as a revenue raiser in separate bills that appear headed for passage: House legislation to shield 21 million taxpayers from the alternative minimum tax (H.R. 6275) and Senate legislation to help homeowners and the housing industry (H.R. 3221).
MoreRichard Matthews, a congressional candidate in Baltimore, was already on the case.
9:52 am on July 3, 2008
