Press Release: Chairman Mendelson Blasts Chamber of Commerce for Protecting Tax Cheats

News Release — DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Sunday November 29, 2020

CONTACT: Lindsey Walton

WASHINGTON, DC — Today Council Chairman Phil Mendelson issued the following statement:

“The DC Chamber of Commerce’s continuing opposition to the False Claims Amendment Act pending before the Council is false, misleading, and inexplicable,” Mendelson said.

“I do not understand why the Chamber is opposing legislation that would make it easier to go after tax cheats. The Chamber somehow views this as antagonistic to businesses, but the reality is that no one should be protecting those who commit fraud against the District government.  

“The False Claims Act is long-standing law that enables the government to take advantage of whistleblowers. The pending Bill will extend current law to include tax cheats. Why would the Chamber oppose this? Why would the Chamber protect those who break the law?

“The Chamber is stirring up the business community with lies. Saying that the bill would incentivize tax suits ‘even if you’ve been audited and determined to have done nothing wrong.’ That is simply false. The chamber misrepresents when it says ‘all it takes is an allegation to start the claim’ because the False Claims Act requires review by the Attorney General before a suit can go forward. It’s not so simple, and scary, as the Chamber is claiming. The Chamber misleads when it scares small businesses into thinking that they’ll be in the crosshairs, because only fraudsters will be in the crosshairs, focusing on big businesses that earn millions of dollars each year, while cheating.

“It’s a cute trick we’ve learned from the White House: to state falsehoods as truth, and stir up your base. The Chamber should be ashamed. If they want credibility in the public realm, they need to tell the truth, and get behind legislation that makes it harder for fraudsters to steal from the government.”

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