[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 59 (Thursday, May 2, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4572-S4573]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    LESS GOVERNMENT AND MORE FREEDOM

  Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, today is a very special day for Texans this 
year because as of today, May 2, working men and women in Texas are for 
the first time in 1996 working for themselves. To this point in 1996, 
every single day from January 1 until today, every penny earned by the 
average working family in my State has gone to government, and only 
beginning today are the working families of Texas working for 
themselves and for their families.
  Let me share these numbers with my colleagues because I think they 
are very revealing of a fundamental problem in America.
  By the estimates of the U.S. census the average family of four in 
Texas today earns $42,570. This year that average Texas family will pay 
$9,522 in Federal taxes, payroll taxes, and income taxes being taken 
out of their pocket and being brought to Washington and spent. They 
will also pay $4,781 in State and local taxes. In total, the average 
family of four in Texas this year will pay $14,303 in taxes out of an 
income of $42,570.
  If in 1950, someone had predicted that the day would come when 
working families in Texas would be sending $1 out of every $3 they earn 
to government, no one in 1950 would have believed that could be 
possible. I remind my colleagues that in 1950 the average family in 
America with two children sent $1 out of every $50 it earned to 
Washington, DC. Today the average family in America is sending $1 out 
of every $4 it earns to Washington, DC. And the sad, and to a certain 
degree, untold story is that, even if we do not start a single new 
government program during the next 20 years but simply pay for the 
government we have already committed to, the average family in America 
will send $1 out of every $3 to Washington within 20 years, and $1 out 
of every $2 in 30 years. That is a future that, at least standing here 
today, it is hard for me to imagine. But I think the sobering lesson is 
who could have imagined in 1950, when the average family in America 
with two children was sending $1 out of every $50 to Washington, DC, 
that today, 46 years later, the average family in America would be 
sending $1 out of every $4 it earns to Washington, DC.
  I will leave it to each American to try to answer the question as to 
whether they are getting their money's worth from our government, 
whether, if they got to keep more of what they earned, they could do a 
better job spending it on their own family and investing it in their 
own future, than the government is now doing. I believe that the answer 
that most Americans would give is that, if they got to keep more of 
their own money to invest in their own children, that they could make a 
sounder investment both for themselves and for their children than 
their Government is now making.
  Texas is a blessed State in many ways. But one of the ways we are 
blessed is that our tax burden at the State and local level is lower 
than the national average. So it will be on May 7 that the average 
American family will work for itself for the first time in 1996. But 
today is the first day of 1996 that working families in Texas will be 
working for themselves. From this point on during the year of 1996 they 
will be able to keep what they earn to invest in their future and their 
family.
  I believe it is a national crisis that the average working family in 
Texas has worked from January 1 until May 2 simply to pay tribute to 
government. I do not believe the government we are giving them is worth 
what they are paying for it. I think we need to dramatically revise 
government spending, and cut it. I think we need to let working 
families keep more of what they earn.
  There is one institution in America that is more effective and more 
important than any other. And that institution is the family. It is the 
institution that provides cohesion to our society, it is the 
institution that passes on our values and our traditions to our 
children, and yet it is the one institution that we consistently starve 
of the resources they need to do this job.

  So I just simply wanted to join the people of my State in celebrating 
the fact that as of today they are working for themselves. For the last 
3 years the tax burden on the average Texas family and the average 
American family has

[[Page S4573]]

risen, and risen at an alarming rate. I believe this trend has to stop, 
and I am dedicated to the principle that we need less government and 
more freedom, that government is too big, too powerful, too expensive, 
and spends too much of the money of working families, and as a result 
they have the opportunity to invest too little of what they earn.
  I want to see this changed, and I think the real debate that we face 
here in Washington, a debate that is very seldom defined here on the 
floor of the Senate, is a choice between unlimited government and 
unlimited opportunity. And we have to choose. I want to make it clear 
on the first day of this year that Texans have worked for themselves 
that I choose opportunity because I know that if the average working 
family in America could represent itself in the U.S. Senate for one day 
and could cast a vote as to whether we need more government, or whether 
we need more freedom in America, they would cast their vote in favor of 
less government and more freedom.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. DORGAN addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I was intrigued by listening to the 
Senator from Texas, and I wanted to make a couple of observations about 
it before I discussed what I came to discuss.
  This issue that the American people have paid taxes to a certain day 
and somehow after that it does not affect them escapes me. I know the 
Senator from Texas taught economics for some while. He would understand 
I think that the four largest areas of public spending are education, 
State and local and Federal, mostly State and local, defense, Social 
Security and Medicare.
  When the American people pay taxes to build schools to send their 
children to schools, I wonder if the Senator is suggesting that somehow 
they have not made an investment in themselves in January, February, 
and March to build those schools, to pay those teachers, and give their 
kids an education. I do not think he would believe that.
  If he is believing somehow that the Social Security checks will go 
back to help senior citizens, that Medicare Program that helps pay 
medical bills for senior citizens in January, February, and March does 
not represent an investment in themselves when people pay taxes and get 
back both an education system and an opportunity to defend our country, 
including jobs in Texas in defense plants, and Social Security checks 
for senior citizens, and Medicare payments for health care for senior 
citizens, I think not. I think not.

  I agree with the Senator from Texas. I would like to see lower taxes 
for everybody. We are trying to reduce the size of Government. In fact, 
there are 200,000 fewer Federal workers now than at the beginning of 
1992. We are reducing the size of Government. He will not find an 
argument from me about that. But when someone suggests somehow that all 
of the money paid goes to Government and has no relationship to the 
individuals, they are suggesting that the investment parents make in 
the school system that benefits their children--because I think parents 
have pride in building a school system that works and being able to 
send their kids to good schools--I think the Senator misunderstands 
that there are a whole lot of the American people who think it is a 
good investment for them to send their kids to good schools and do not 
mind paying taxes for schools that work.
  I did not come to the floor to talk about that, but I am always 
intrigued by the discussions about tax issues.

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