[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 44 (Tuesday, April 15, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H1460]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT WOULD PROTECT CORPORATE AND SPECIAL 
                         INTEREST TAX LOOPHOLES

  (Mr. DeFAZIO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, as we debate today, millions of Americans 
across the country are still laboring over their taxes. No one can 
argue that the current system is simple or fair. But today, under the 
guise of offering relief to average taxpaying hardworking wage-earning 
Americans, this Congress is going to consider a constitutional 
amendment that would make it impossible to close the loopholes and make 
other needed changes in the Internal Revenue Service and the Tax Code.
  It would be more properly titled ``The Corporate and Special Interest 
Loophole Protection Amendment.'' It would not allow us, except with a 
two-thirds vote, to close the loophole that allows 71 percent of the 
profitable foreign corporations in America to pay not a penny of tax in 
this country, and 31 percent of the largest, most profitable U.S. 
multinationals to pay not a penny of tax in this country.
  Foreign firms filed claims on our precious minerals last year. A 
foreign company got $13 billion of gold for $13,000. We would not be 
able to charge them anymore without a two-thirds vote under this 
ridiculous amendment.

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