[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 65 (Friday, May 16, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H2865-H2866]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    RAISING TAXES IS THE BUSINESS OF THE LEGISLATURE, NOT JUDICIARY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Manzullo] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, this week I had the opportunity to testify 
before a subcommittee of the House Committee on the Judiciary on the 
issue of judicial taxation. Rockford, IL, is a city of about 150,000 
people. It is at the top of the State in more ways than one. It is my 
home. It is where I grew up. I lived there for a number of years

[[Page H2866]]

before I moved to the country some time ago.
  The city is under a Federal court order to desegregate the school 
system of School District 205. And what is happening in Rockford is 
happening across the Nation today as judges take on the roles of 
legislators, as judges attempt to be school administrators, school 
boards, teachers, PTA, and as judges arbitrarily and without taking 
into consideration the impact have raised taxes on the people of School 
District 205 in an attempt to resolve the proven segregation that took 
place years ago in that city.
  The legislation that I introduce says as follows: That a Federal 
judge should follow the Constitution and leave to the legislature the 
business of raising taxes. Unfortunately, it is impossible to do away 
with the power of a Federal court to raise taxes, and that goes back to 
years ago when railroads were issued bonds by municipalities and 
municipalities defaulted on those bonds and courts had to pose 
something called a structural injunction in order to pay back those 
bonds.
  What has happened in Rockford is that a court has raised taxes, 
almost doubled taxation in the past 4 years, and the people of Rockford 
just got their tax bill 3 or 4 days ago. Taxation went up another 10 to 
15 percent. And instead of a remedy bringing together a community, 
instead of a remedy that looks at the past civil rights abuses and says 
what can we do to bring this community together in order to redress the 
past civil rights grievance, the remedy ends up dividing a community; 
the remedy has increased real estate taxes, lowered property values, 
made it very difficult for people to sell their homes, made it 
uninviting for people to want to move into School District 205, and put 
such a hard press especially on seniors, those who are on fixed 
incomes, seniors whose taxes are much more than they can afford to pay.
  As the seniors call my office and as the families who call my office, 
many with tears in their voice, and say, Congressman, I do not 
understand why a Federal judge can raise my real estate taxes and I can 
be subjected to taxation without representation, when in fact a 
Revolutionary War was fought in that nation over the fact that we as 
colonies were taxed without having one person representing us in the 
parliament in Great Britain.

                              {time}  1345

  We thought that was done away with 200 years ago, but it still 
continues today. The purpose of my legislation is to send a message to 
the Federal court that you are not a taxing, that the power to tax is 
with the legislature. If you dare try to raise the taxes of the people, 
you have to meet very certain guidelines, the first among which is the 
fact that a remedy cannot be fashioned without the increase of taxes. 
Then thereafter, the other guidelines that we set up serve as a curb on 
the powers of the Federal courts to raise taxes and to destroy the 
quality of life in cities such as Rockford, IL.
  My bill, the Judicial Mandate and Remedy Clarification Act, is 
constitutional because it sets up the guidelines which under those very 
rare circumstances under which a court can undertake to raise the taxes 
of the local people.
  I would encourage my colleagues to become signatories to this type of 
legislation because when we talk about judicial activism, ultimately it 
is the U.S. Congress under article III, sections 1 and 2 that has the 
power to give the jurisdiction to these district courts and the power 
to set the remedies.

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