On tax day, Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) asked his collegeues what Congress is doing for the American Taxpayers.  Royce spoke against H.R. 5719, Taxpayer Assistance and Simplification Act, which would undermine Health Savings Accounts and increase the cost of healthcare.  While on the House floor Royce gave the following remarks:

"Today is tax day. And what are we doing for the American Taxpayers? Making them jump through more hoops! That's right, the bill that is being brought to the floor today under this rule would enact burdensome and bureaucratic regulations undermining Health Savings Accounts, which have been proven successful at slowing the growth of health costs and insurance premiums for millions of individuals and small businesses.

These new burdens are unnecessary, inefficient and inconsistent with the flexibility purposely afforded HSAs at their inception. These provisions undermine efforts by employers, individuals, and insurers to reduce health care costs and improve health outcomes.

This new step of independent "substantiation" will increase costs for banks and account administrators, who will pass these costs on to consumers. While there have been complaints in recent months about the charges which banks and other commercial lending institutions pass on to their customers, this provision will increase those costs further. This doesn't make sense. HSAs were created to reduce the growth of health care costs and have achieved some noteworthy successes. However, this bill would lead to increased health care costs for individuals.

Don't taxpayers have enough to worry about on tax day? I urge my colleagues to vote against this rule so we can fix this bill and provide a little relief to hardworking Americans on April 15th."

Rep. Royce was recently awarded the 2007 Taxpayers' Friend Award and received the highest pro-taxpayer score in the California delegation.

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