[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 59 (Thursday, March 30, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H4004]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TAX CUTS: WHO WILL BENEFIT?

  (Mr. WISE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. WISE. Mr. Speaker, in responding to the gentleman from Ohio, it 
is true we are about in the 86th day of the contract for America, a lot 
of things have happened, and I think we ought to talk for just a moment 
about this tax cut package because it is kind of like walking in the 
car lot. And you heard the description of it, it sounds pretty good, it 
is shiny and glistens; better look under the hood, check the trunk, 
kick the tires because you may have some problems.
  If you are middle income, depending on what your income status is, if 
you are $200,000 you are in great shape, you are going to be able to 
take full advantage of this tax cut. But if you are under $13,000 a 
year you are out of luck.
  Who are we trying to help around here? If you are the average West 
Virginia family, income of $22,000 to $24,000 a year, not much in store 
for you. If you are $100,000, though, 51 percent of the tax benefits 
are going to go to you; if you are $75,000 it is around 65 percent, you 
will like the capital gains tax cut.
  If you are over $100,000 the average amount you will be getting back 
will be $1,200; if you are somewhere around $30,000 a year it is 
$26.05, Department of Treasury statistics.
  So this is what is on the floor next week. And of course, where would 
this tax cut go, how do you pay for it? You pay for it by cutting other 
programs, and so those cuts do not go to reducing the deficit, which in 
my town meetings is what two-thirds of the people are saying that they 
want done.
  You give a tax cut basically to the privileged few, and you cut the 
very programs that help the bulk of Americans. School lunch, school 
breakfast, welfare reform, so many of the other cuts, rescission 
programs, summer jobs program that put young people to work, those are 
the programs being cut.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I would just urge Members to look very closely at 
this last item of the contract. If it is the diadem in the crown of the 
contract, it has a lot of tarnish to it, and it is going to be 
important to debate it fully next week.


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