[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 64 (Thursday, April 6, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H4343]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       THE BEST TIME TO CUT TAXES

  (Mr. HANCOCK asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HANCOCK. Mr. Speaker, as my colleagues know, we keep talking 
about what we tried in 1980-81 to cut taxes. Only difference is we got 
a Republican Congress now that is going to cut the spending, too, so 
that will take care of that.
  As my colleagues know, the argument over the last several days has 
been that there is not a good time to cut taxes. Every place we hear 
this is not a good time to cut taxes. We got full employment, 
practically full employment, we have got the production facilities in 
the United States operating at capacity; now is not a good time to cut 
taxes.
  I am going to ask the question of the other side of the aisle over 
here, ``When is a good time to cut taxes?''
  Mr. Speaker, I say to my colleagues, ``Now you can't cut taxes when 
the economy is down; that is true, as my colleagues know, because we 
got to pump it up, we have got to take tax money and generate the 
economy.'' So they are also saying that it is not a good time to cut 
taxes when the economy is doing well. So my question is:
  ``When is a good time to cut taxes?''
  I can tell my colleagues when it is. Down in southwest Missouri, down 
in the hill country, we used to be a major apple producing area. At 
that time the question was when was the best time to prune the trees. I 
tell my colleagues, ``The best time to prune the trees is when you got 
a sharp knife. The best time to cut taxes is whenever you can get it 
done.''


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