[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 28 (Thursday, March 6, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H783]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 OUR COUNTRY NEEDS SWEEPING TAX REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Utah [Mr. Cook] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. COOK. Mr. Speaker, I believe the most compassionate and practical 
thing that this Congress can do is to give the American people tax laws 
that make sense and tax relief that is meaningful. Our country 
desperately needs sweeping tax reform. Our people need tax laws they 
can understand. They need a method of taxation that is fair and 
reasonable.
  Our tax laws now are so complicated that even the IRS cannot explain 
them. I think it is ludicrous the IRS sends out 8 billion pages of 
forms and instructions each year. Our tax system is too complicated, 
and our taxes are simply too high.
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to join the growing number of congressional 
Members calling for sweeping tax reform and meaningful tax relief.
  We lost the fight this year to give the American people the term 
limits the majority said they wanted, and it appears from this week 
that we may be losing the fight to give the American people the 
balanced budget amendment that they have been wanting and feel they can 
build their future on. But let us not lose this fight. Let the 105th 
Congress be remembered for slaying the dragon that terrorized previous 
Congresses.
  I have been a long-time advocate of the flat tax. I support the 
Freedom and Fairness Restoration Act of the gentleman from Texas [Mr. 
Armey]. A flat tax is simple. I like Mr. Armey's suggestion that 
Americans ought to be able to file their taxes on a form the size of a 
postcard.
  A flat tax treats everyone equally and fairly. It will spur the 
economy and encourage people to save and invest. The Freedom and 
Fairness Restoration Act will also give Americans desperately needed 
tax relief, providing a reasonable tax cut while raising nearly as much 
money as the current system. But more than this, I think a flat tax can 
reform our entire political system.
  Congress has used the American Tax Code as a tool for social 
engineering, and that is not right. Behaviors are rewarded or punished 
through a little tinkering here and a little tinkering there of the Tax 
Code. I believe that is a cynical and improper use of our power. 
Americans pay taxes to support a government created to serve them, not 
to a government created to control them.
  Mr. Speaker, we never enjoy paying our taxes. The millions of 
American families struggling to make ends meet will never be eager to 
give their precious dollars to the Federal Government. But if we have 
the courage to act, these families can say for the first time that they 
now understand the tax laws that they are obeying. They can say for the 
first time that they know their tax burden is not heavier for them than 
for the family down the street or those across town. They can say for 
the first time that the American tax system is simple, fair, and just.

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