[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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