[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 62 (Tuesday, April 4, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H4158-H4159]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


            THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Kingston] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, if we could sum up what we have been 
hearing for the last hour on the floor of the House, I think you could 
just say Democrats love taxes. Republicans hate taxes. Democrats love 
big government. Republicans hate big government. Democrats love the 
public sector. Republicans like the private sector.
  I won't venture to say that maybe Democrats seem to love poor 
children and hate rich children, but there does seem to be, in the 
Democrat mindset, a distinction between a rich child and a poor child, 
as opposed to loving all children equally.
  Let us get back to the tax issues. I think the reason why the 
Democrats are gripping this tax so hard is because they love taxes. We 
are taking taxes away from them. You don't mess with their toys. They 
don't like that. So what do we have?
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. KINGSTON. Certainly.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the dialog the gentleman 
is raising.
  Mr. KINGSTON. I'm going to yield quickly. Don't make a speech on my 
time.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE. I fully appreciate the comments you have made.
  My question becomes, however, if you tax credit falls in a greater 
percentage to the higher income persons of this Nation, and none of us 
will talk about children, and does not equally benefit those working 
families who have children in the lower income rungs, would you not 
think out of this logic that this is a tax credit for the rich?
  Mr. KINGSTON. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Speaker, I guess one of the big 
differences in Democrats and Republicans is we are not afraid of 
achievement. You know, if somebody pulls themselves up and they start 
out of school, and maybe they go to college and maybe they don't, maybe 
they serve in the military, maybe they don't, but they get a job, and 
the man and woman hang together and become a family, and they move up 
into an income bracket, well, I don't think it is right to suddenly say 
``Ha, your child is now not worth any money anymore.''
  I say ``Go for it. We want that achievement.'' I know a lot of 
government bureaucracies which are affinity groups to the Democrat 
party want more dependents. They tend to fight success. We want to 
nurture success. We want to say ``Go all the way to the top.'' That is 
why we want to return, and not even return, just don't take it away to 
begin with, people's tax dollars from them.
  Let me give some very important statistics which I really wish you 
all would, and I will promise you, any of your Democrats or any of your 
constituents that would call my office, I will give you a copy of these 
charts, and I will explain it to you. Let me tell you what these 
numbers show. When taxes are high, growth goes down. When growth goes 
down, the deficit increases. If growth and revenue increase, the 
deficit is lowered.
  This is not just Jack Kingston and the gentleman from Georgia, Newt 
Gingrich, and the Republican Party, this comes from the Joint Economic 
Committee, which as you know, is Senate and House Members chaired by, I 
believe, the Committee on Ways and Means Members, the gentleman from 
Florida, Mr. Gibbons on this side, and Mr. Moynihan on the Senate side.
  They say ``As these increases in productivity, brought about by lower 
taxes and economic growth, accumulate over time, a gradual expansion of 
taxable income base generates additional tax revenues.'' This is 
straight from here.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield just for a 
moment?
  Mr. KINGSTON. I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE. I say to the gentleman, I, too, applaud excellence. 
That is why we must give to those who are making $30,000 and $35,000 a 
year, who are working as hard but are yet not getting the tax benefits.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Reclaiming my time, I will be glad to yield when we get 
back on your time schedule.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE. We must realize that the taxes in this country are 
low.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I want to say to the gentlewoman, and 
learned, and one of the more intelligent Members on the Democrat side, 
surely you know the wisdom of the chart shown here earlier, saying the 
bulk of the tax returns go to people who make under $75,000 a year. 
What could be better for the middle class?
  It was your President who promised the middle-class tax cut. We are 
just the party who happens to be keeping its feet to the fire on it. 
Welfare reform, let's end welfare reform as we know it. The President 
forgot about that, but we are going to help him out with it. The 
balanced budget amendment, we are going to help him out. The line-item 
veto, no mention of it for 2 years, but we are going to help him out.
  Mr. DOYLE. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. KINGSTON. I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania, but you 
have been not been yielding to us, and I hope you will yield back when 
you have the time.
  Mr. DOYLE. Mr. Speaker, a quick question. You made the statement that 
when we have tax cuts, that that causes growth in revenues to the 
Federal Government and helps lower the 
[[Page H4159]] deficit. I would just ask the gentleman, back in the 
1980's when we had three tax cuts, I guess the same would hold true 
back then?
  Mr. KINGSTON. Taking back my time, absolutely. In 1980, the total 
revenue is $500,000. By 1990, it is $8 trillion.
  Mr. DOYLE. How do you explain the deficit going from $1 trillion to 
$4 trillion during that same time? The deficit quadrupled in that time.

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