[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 62 (Tuesday, May 7, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H4435]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            TAX FREEDOM DAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Goss] is recognized during 
morning business for 2 minutes.
  Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, today is tax freedom day, the day that working 
Americans can finally stop toiling for the Government and begin to keep 
their earnings to provide for themselves and their families. By any 
measure, taxes are continuing to grow at a record pace, consuming an 
even greater portion of taxpayer income.
  The average American family pays more in total taxes than it spends 
on food, clothing, and shelter combined. Put another way, the typical 
American now works nearly 3 hours out of every 8-hour workday just to 
pay taxes. These examples demonstrate what the American taxpayer 
already knows--all Americans are overtaxed.
  A recent Reader's Digest poll underscores this fact. According to the 
poll, the maximum tax load Americans believe a family of four should 
bear is 25 percent--that's not just Federal income taxes but all levels 
of taxation--a far cry from the 38 percent that the average family 
actually pays today.
  This Congress has responded by moving to repeal the fundamentals of 
the 1993 Clinton tax hike on working Americans--the tax hike on 
seniors' Social Security benefits and the increase in the gas tax that 
all Americans are feeling at the pump today. We have passed meaningful 
tax relief for families that would have erased the income tax burden 
entirely for 140,000 taxpayers in my State of Florida alone. While we 
have done our job, President Clinton has consistently opposed and 
obstructed our tax relief every step of the way.
  Tax policy comes down to a basic choice: The failed status quo of 
ever-increasing taxation of lower taxes that allow Americans to earn 
more and keep more so they can do more for themselves, their families 
and their communities. For me and for this Congress, the choice is 
clear.

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