Quigley Amendment Creates Taxpayer Receipt Website for Federal Spending and Tax Bills

Press Release

Today, U.S. Representative Mike Quigley (IL-05) offered an amendment to create a website which would allow taxpayers to calculate how much they would contribute to, or receive from, major spending or tax bills being considered by Congress.

"Taxpayers have a right to know how Congress is spending their money, and most of the information out there is either incorrect or inaccessible," said Rep. Quigley. "This amendment increases transparency, which is the best way to hold lawmakers accountable and rein in out of control deficits."

Under Quigley's amendment, taxpayers would be able to enter their annual income into a calculator housed on a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) website. This calculator would estimate the share of their tax dollars that would be spent on any major bill or the amount of their projected increase or decrease in taxes under major tax legislation.

The amendment was offered to the Pro-Growth Budgeting Act of 2011, which was voted on today by the House. Rep. Quigley withdrew his amendment after further discussions with the bill's author, Rep. Tom Price (GA-06), who agreed to work with Rep. Quigley on legislation that would specifically focus on providing Americans with a taxpayer receipt and increasing federal budget transparency.

Congressman Quigley has been committed to good government reform in his two terms in Congress. He founded the bipartisan Transparency Caucus and recently released Reinventing Government: The Federal Budget Parts I and II, which establishes transparency in the budget process and offers 60 recommendations to save $2 trillion over the next 10 years. Congressman Quigley serves as the Ranking Member on the House Oversight Subcommittee on TARP, Financial Services, and Bailouts of Public and Private Programs.

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