Emerson Legislation Would Stop Health Care Law Work at IRS

Statement

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (MO-08) says the IRS is preparing to undertake massive projects to share taxpayer information with health care exchanges under the Affordable Care Act and that those expenditures would be forced to stop under legislation she has written.

"The taxpayer money to accomplish these objectives does not come through the appropriations process, it is coming from a billion-dollar slush fund at the Department of Health and Human Services," Emerson said. "No one knows with certainty how much money is being transferred to the IRS or for what, and there is a major lack of transparency here. Not to mention that the entire health care law in the balance of a decision by the Supreme Court and it may be repealed by Congress in January. There is no reason to waste taxpayer resources now to comply with a law that stands little chance of existing in a year."

Emerson says it also goes to show how expensive the ACA really is.

"A billion dollars is a lot of money for the odds-and-ends associated with the health care law. Remember, the entire cost of this misguided law is more than a trillion dollars. Taxpayers are on the hook for major expenses associated with this new entitlement, it has a devastating economic impact, and we are witnessing the most massive transfer of private market activity to the government in the history of our country," Emerson said.

Emerson's legislative provision is included in the FY 2013 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill. It bars the IRS from accepting funding transfers from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Source