[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 82 (Thursday, June 12, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H3726]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        CAPITAL GAINS TAX RELIEF IMPORTANT FOR AMERICAN ECONOMY

  (Mr. DREIER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, as we have watched the Committee on Ways and 
Means proceed with its markup, I think it is very important for us to 
recognize that the plan to reduce the top rate on capital gains is in 
fact not a tax cut for the rich, as many on the other side of the aisle 
and some harsh critics have said in the past.
  If we are to reduce the top rate on capital gains significantly, we 
can actually increase the take-home pay of the average family of four 
by $1,500 a year. That itself is a very important tax cut; it will in 
fact benefit working Americans.
  We also have to look at the fact that reducing the top rate on 
capital gains is not going to cost the Government a nickel. In fact, it 
is going to gain revenues to the Federal Treasury. How do we know that? 
Every single time that it has been done, from 1921 under President 
Warren G. Harding all the way to 1981 under President Ronald Reagan, 
reducing that top rate, in fact, expands the pie and generates an 
increased flow of revenues to the Federal Treasury. Reducing the 
capital gains tax is a very important part of this package. We need to 
move ahead with it.

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