[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 59 (Thursday, May 2, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4591-S4592]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    THE ECONOMY AND WHAT PEOPLE WANT

  Mr. BENNETT. Mr. President, we have a lot of conversation going on 
around the country these days about the economy and what it is people 
want to have happen and what it is people are searching for in terms of 
the Federal approach to the economy.
  I will suggest several guideposts that I think we need to follow when 
we talk about the economy. If I may, Mr. President, I want to put them 
in terms of the individual lives and the individual economies of each 
American.
  I think the American people want to do three things with their 
economy. No. 1, they want to earn more. That is a fairly natural thing. 
I think we all identify with that. We want to earn more. Then we want 
to keep more, hang on to more of what it is we do earn by the sweat of 
our brow. Then we do that, earn more, keep more so that we can do more, 
not just to pile up the money somewhere, but to use it to do things 
with.
  Let me give you some examples on these ideas, Mr. President. First, 
earning more. That comes as a function in our economy of the growth of 
the economy. We want to earn more because the economy is growing, not 
because we are taking it away from somebody else--I earn more because 
you earn less; we don't want that kind of approach--but growth, more 
jobs, more economic activity is the way we earn more.
  In my home State of Utah, we are currently enjoying a tremendous 
economic boom. More growth is occurring, and, as a result, perhaps the 
sweetest result for most people's ears, is that now in Utah jobs are 
plentiful. People can find work in Utah, whereas as recently as a dozen 
years ago, it was very tough to find a job. But as the economy grows, 
jobs are available and everyone can earn more, keeping more.
  I will talk again about my own experience in Utah. In our company, 
which was an S corporation--I know a lot of people turn off because 
this sounds technical--but an S corporation is simply, for tax 
purposes, a corporation where the earnings are allowed to flow through 
to the tax returns of the owners. So the corporation does not pay any 
tax. The whole earnings of the corporation are added on to the 
individual tax returns of the owners. The owners pay the taxes.
  When we had a corporation like that in Utah, we were paying a top tax 
rate of 28 percent during the 1980's. Today, that tax rate, as a result 
of the tax increases that have occurred, is 42 percent, a 50 percent 
increase, Mr. President, that occurred over a period of just 3 years. 
So even though we may have been earning more, we were not able to keep 
even as much as we had been earning. We were not able to keep that 
which was coming in to our company, and our activity, with the taxes 
going up, as I say, from 28 percent to 42 percent.
  Why is it important if we are earning more to keep more? Back in the 
days when we could keep all but 28 percent of that, we could do more. 
We were able to create jobs. The particular company that I was involved 
with, when I became involved, had just four employees. We were creating 
jobs for four people. I was the fifth one hired and put on the payroll.
  Today that company employs close to 3,000 people. We earned more 
because we were in a growth industry. We were able to keep more because 
the tax rate was at 28 percent. We were able to do more with the money 
that we kept in the form of creating job security and a better 
lifestyle for nearly 3,000 people, new jobs created that did not exist 
before.
  One point I think we need to understand very clearly as we talk about 
the jobs that were created during the Reagan years--President Clinton 
talks about the jobs that have been created during his administration--
we must understand that the Federal Government does not create a single 
job. No government does. The only government jobs that are there are 
those jobs that are created to be paid for with somebody else's taxes. 
All of the new jobs that represent earning more and growth come out of 
the private sector.
  All the Federal Government can do is create an atmosphere in which 
that growth can take place. It cannot, by passing a law, create a job, 
unless, as I said, it takes somebody's tax money to create a job. Your 
salary, Mr. President, my salary, the salary of everyone here comes out 
of somebody else's taxes. All Government jobs do.
  So the Government should focus on creating an environment, an 
atmosphere, where the entrepreneurial energy of private Americans can 
create growth. Then the Government should say, ``Let's look at our own 
expenditures to hold down the spending on the Government side so that 
those who are creating the jobs, allowing people to earn more, are 
allowed to keep more of that which they create.'' If we do that, we 
know from experience they will then do more with the money they are 
allowed to keep that will benefit the economy and all Americans as a 
whole.
  But what it really comes down to, Mr. President, is this. It is a 
question of trust. Does the Government trust its citizens to go out in 
the economy and take care of their own problems? Does the Government 
trust its citizens to hang on to the money that they earn and make 
their own decisions with it? Does the Government trust its citizens

[[Page S4592]]

to take the kinds of actions that will cause the economy as a whole to 
grow and create prosperity for all of us?

  I am one who does trust the American people. I am one who thinks we 
need to roll back the tax increases that have occurred, allow people to 
keep more of their hard-earned money. I believe when we do that we will 
see the threefold result I have been talking about here, Mr. President. 
People will be able to earn more--if they are allowed to keep more, 
they can then do more.
  I call upon all of us to support policies that move in that 
direction. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Gorton). The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. GRAHAM. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Snowe). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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