January 2024 NCSEA CSQ

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Congress Shines a Light on Federal Tax Information and the Child Support Program by Jim Fleming, Tom Joseph, Diane Potts, Susan Smith, Bryan Tribble, and Vicki Turetsky On November 29, 2023, the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee convened a joint meeting of the Work and Welfare and Oversight Subcommittees. The announcement of the hearing listed the topic as “Strengthening the Child Support Enforcement Program for States and Tribes” and later described the hearing as pertaining to “Child Support Enforcement and the Internal Revenue Code.” Widely believed to be the first Congressional hearing on child support in more than 20 years, CSQ committee member and former NCSEA President Diane Potts interviewed four witnesses who testified at the hearing, as well as NCSEA’s advocate Tom Joseph. Tom, the House has not yet introduced legislation in this area. Is it common to hold a hearing without a bill to discuss? The House and Senate hold hearings throughout the year on a wide range of topics in which there is a federal interest. The majority party determines what issues will be heard and identifies most of the witnesses. At times, hearings are political, with the majority party deciding that an issue, regardless of whether a bill is introduced, is of interest to the public and may be framed to garner support for the majority party’s views. Most hearings, however, either set the stage for future legislation or are conducted to obtain input on a bill already introduced. Witnesses are key to the hearing process. Based on their testimony and the following question and answer period, the committee of jurisdiction over the issue (here, House Ways and Means) uses the hearing to determine how a future or existing bill should be written or amended to achieve the desired policy. Representatives and senators consider the
witnesses to be experts on the subject at hand. Opening statements by committee members and their questions of witnesses also provide insight into the support or opposition to the issue among the committee members. If the majority party decides that legislation is necessary to address the issue, it will schedule a time for a markup of the draft bill. Before the markup, sponsors of the bill often cite supporting testimony from the legislative hearing, along with comments filed after the hearing, that helped them draft the bill and support their position. The markup then proceeds with amendments (‘marks’) to make changes to the underlying bill. Once approved, the legislation will go to the floor for debate. Thank you, Tom, for that very helpful background! Now, let’s hear from four of the witnesses at the hearing: Vicki Turetsky, Jim Fleming, Sue Smith, and Bryan Tribble. First question: what went through your mind when you were first asked to testify? I was honored and hesitant at the same time. I am semi-retired now and thought I had put all of that behind me. But I appreciated the opportunity to stand up for the child support program. During my time in office, I worked extensively with the IRS to resolve FTI audit issues under section 6103. We also urged that Congress include direct tribal tax offset authority as part of the 2014 FPLS tribal access legislation proposed by the Obama administration. I was excited that the tribal parity/contractor issue was getting so much attention from Congress. I was also glad for the chance to tell Congress about the tribal consortium that North Dakota helps, and how that innovative project has been suspended because of a similar change in the IRS’s position on disclosures. There were a host of thoughts, mostly centered around whether this was something of which I was capable, whether I was the best person to speak regarding something as critical as federal tax information to so many families served by the states, tribes, and territories, etc. Then, after I received permission from my leadership and our Governor’s Office, it became a reality that this was something I was going to do. So, I began preparing.
Page 2 and 3: Table of Contents January 2024 Pres
Page 4 and 5: Also at the last Board meeting, we
Page 6 and 7: and seeking guidance as needed on s
Page 10 and 11: I was asked to testify on Monday af
Page 12 and 13: inter-jurisdictional; and (3) the p
Page 14 and 15: speaking on behalf of the whole chi
Page 16 and 17: and State Child Support agencies ca
Page 18 and 19: Tom Joseph has represented public s
Page 20 and 21: Behavioral Economics and Attracting
Page 22 and 23: While these are powerful tools that
Page 24 and 25: customers are not forgotten. Potent
Page 26 and 27: primarily to traditional W-2 employ
Page 28 and 29: compliance with the clarified new h
Page 30 and 31: enabling them to be utilized as bot
Page 32 and 33: Thursday, NCSEA President Erin Fris
Page 34 and 35: Breaking the Mold: Exploring Non-Ca
Page 36 and 37: simple cash payments. They can cont
Page 38: Conclusion Non-cash child support c

January 2024 NCSEA CSQ

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