[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 1 (Wednesday, January 3, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H57]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             HOW MUCH GOVERNMENT CAN WORKING PEOPLE AFFORD?

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Collins] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, as Congress and the Clinton 
administration continue negotiations to balance the Federal budget, I 
am reminded of the question I heard from residents in Georgia's Third 
District last week: How much government can working people afford?
  I want to repeat that question: How much government can working 
people afford?
  Today the combined Federal, State, and local taxes consume nearly 40 
percent of the disposable income of working Americans. Federal taxes 
place the harshest burdens on taxpayers. In 1994, the average American 
family turned over 25 percent of its income to the Federal Government. 
That compared to just 2 percent in 1954.
  During the 1950's and the early 1960's, the Federal Government 
managed to pay for the national defense, build a nationwide Interstate 
Highway System, deliver our mail, and provide other vital government 
functions while living within its means. Today the Federal Government 
spends $500 million per day more than it collects in taxes and 
revenues. We are $4.9 trillion in debt. Interest on our national debt 
is the third largest single item in the Federal budget, topped only by 
Social Security and the national defense outlays.
  Federal entitlement programs are responsible in large part for our 
national financial predicament. Today working Americans are paying the 
bills to provide health care to the elderly, the poor, and the 
disabled. Today working Americans are paying the bills to fund numerous 
Federal welfare programs that create a lifestyle of government 
dependence. Today working Americans are paying the bills to subsidize 
various Federal programs for farmers, students, cities, counties, 
States, businesses, and the list goes on and on, which brings me back 
to the question I heard from my constituents: How much government can 
working people afford?
  We Americans are a fair and compassionate people. We believe in 
providing the benefits of Federal programs, such as Social Security and 
Medicare, for which people have paid for and earned. We also believe in 
helping those who want to help themselves. We are providing the 
programs that will help those citizens in our society who have 
encountered difficulties. But we must reform those programs that 
encourage government dependence as a way of life for millions of 
Americans.

                              {time}  1845

  Mr. Speaker, working people pay the bills. They provide the funds to 
pay for all Federal programs and they must pay for the Federal debt an 
the interest that accrues because of irresponsible deficit spending.
  While Democrats criticize tax breaks for fat-cat corporations and 
businesses, who do they really think pays the corporate taxes? The 
working people of this country, Mr. Speaker. That is who pays corporate 
taxes. Corporate taxes are built into the cost of products and services 
purchased by consumers.
  When a consumer goes to the store and buys a product or purchases a 
service, he or she does not get two receipts for that product or 
service. They get one receipt for the item and within that one receipt 
are all the taxes that have been paid on that product. Instead, this 
consumer has only one receipt rather than two. No receipt for just the 
tax portion of the profits earned on the sale of that item.
  American workers pay the bills for all government programs and for 
all services. How much more government can they afford?
  Mr. Speaker, I urge President Clinton to join Congress in our effort 
to preserve Medicare, to change welfare, and to provide tax relief for 
working Americans and pass a 7-year balanced budget. This is the only 
way we can provide a Federal Government that working people can afford.

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