[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 76 (Wednesday, May 29, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E932-E933]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            TAX FREEDOM DAY

                                 ______


                          HON. MARTIN R. HOKE

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 29, 1996

  Mr. HOKE. Mr. Speaker, although for most Americans it came and went 
without special notice, May 7 was a very important day. You

[[Page E933]]

might say it was a holiday of sorts, but unfortunately not the kind 
that will get you a day off work.
  May 7 was tax freedom day, and according to the nonpartisan Tax 
Foundation it was the day that Americans finally stopped working for 
the Government and started working for themselves and their families.
  That's right. Americans worked from January 1 of this year up to May 
7--over 4 months--just to pay for the cost of Government at all 
levels--Federal, State, and local. As a result of tax increases passed 
in 1993--which I voted against--this is the latest in the year that tax 
freedom day has ever fallen. That means what I think most Americans 
already know in their gut: taxes are too high and Government costs too 
much. Consider:
  In 1950, the average income family of four paid less than 5 percent 
of its income in total taxes and one wage earner could easily support 
the entire family. Today that same average income family pays about 24 
percent to the Federal Government alone, 38 percent when you add in 
State and local taxes--the highest percentage in American peacetime 
history.
  Because taxes are so high, middle-class incomes are being squeezed--
not to support the family, but to support the Government.
  What's even more disturbing is that the pressure to earn more leaves 
us with less time and energy to spend with our children or to get 
involved with our church or community. And when that happens our whole 
Nation suffers because our children suffer.
  The corrosive and damaging effect of taxation on America's working 
families must be corrected. One giant step in the right direction is a 
$500 per child tax credit--a measure I am supporting in Congress.
  With this credit, a family of four earning $30,000 would have its 
1996 Federal income tax cut in half and the entire Federal tax burden 
of 4.7 million working families at the lowest income levels would be 
eliminated completely.
  I am also supporting repeal of the 1993 gas tax increase of 4.3 cents 
per gallon. Of all the forms of taxation, the gas tax is one of the 
most unfair because it falls disproportionately on those at the bottom 
of the economic ladder.
  Combined, these two tax cuts will provide some long overdue tax 
relief for America's working families. And wouldn't it be nice if tax 
freedom day fell a little earlier next year?

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