YOHO, RUBIO INTRODUCE LEGISLATION TO COMBAT ELECTRONIC I.D. THEFT

Washington, D.C. – With Tax Day approaching, Congressman Ted S. Yoho (R-FL)  and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) today introduced legislation requiring the Secretary of the Treasury to implement tougher security measures in the electronic tax return filing process in order to prevent tax refund fraud. This would include but not be limited to the use of security questions to establish the taxpayer’s identity.

As taxpayers have increasingly turned to electronic tax returns in order to pay their taxes, the problem of electronic identity theft has grown, especially in Florida, the state with the most cases of identity theft.

“With tax season upon us, the problem of identity theft is serious and growing. The fact that this affects an increasing number of Floridians is unacceptable,” said Yoho. “I am happy to join Senator Rubio in pressing the Treasury Department and IRS to solve this problem. The bill we have introduced today is a common sense solution that will protect hard working American taxpayers from faceless cyber criminals, as well as save them billions of dollars.”

“One of the biggest problems that constituents turn to our office for help with is electronic identity theft that results from filing taxes online,” said Rubio. “The criminals behind this problem are stealing both people’s money and their time. Ted Yoho and I represent the state where the electronic identity theft problem is most severe, and we believe the Treasury Department and IRS need to step up their game in cracking down on this problem by prioritizing resources to combat the growing trend of electronic identity theft.”

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Congressman Ted Yoho serves on the Foreign Affairs and Agriculture Committees. He represents North Florida’s 3rd Congressional District