FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

It is not a coincidence that my first press conference since being sworn in as President Bush's Deputy Treasury Secretary involves the use of technology to make government better for American businesses and individuals. I could not have picked a more appropriate and personally compelling occasion.

Under President Bush and Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill's leadership, we have reduced taxes by $1.35 trillion dollars over the next ten years. Technology can do many wonderful things. Unfortunately, it can't make taxes disappear, but EFTPS-OnLine can make taxes less painful to pay.

Today, we have a taken some real steps to make the government better.

Paying taxes online.

Three words that will change the way business and individuals interact with the federal government. For years, the private sector has provided on-line payments and shopping. Why? Because the private sector - using technology - has identified convenient and secure methods to do business. People seek convenience, they seek security, they seek confidentiality, and they seek privacy.

Today, we are pleased to announce that these principles: convenience, security, confidentiality, and privacy - will be applied to paying taxes online.

Paying taxes, will be, in a word, easy.

This use of technology - in this case the internet - will help businesses become more productive. Instead of spending valuable resources on working on taxes, those same resources can be better spent dedicated to the bottom line. This in turn, will help these businesses become more productive, which in turn will help the economy grow. This in turn, of course, will help raise our standard of living.

There is, of course, more to technology that just paying taxes online.

Technology will is playing an increasingly important role in the financial sector. Financial privacy, cashless payment systems, critical infrastructure protection. There are a lot of ways the government can use technology to make life better for our nation's business and individuals, and I'll proudly be at the forefront in all of these areas and at future announcements.

I am honored to join FMS Commissioner Dick Gregg, and IRS Commissioner Charles Rossotti, today. These two individuals deserve a great deal of credit for this innovation, and I'm delighted to share the podium with them.