[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 85 (Wednesday, June 18, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H3893-H3894]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TAX RELIEF FOR THOSE WHO NEED IT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Connecticut [Ms. DeLauro] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. DeLauro. Mr. Speaker, a comprehensive tax bill says a lot about 
what the priorities of our Nation are, what the values of our Nation 
are, in the same way that achieving a balanced budget agreement talks 
about who we are. The devil, if you will, is in the details, in that 
one has to take a look at how these concepts translate into actuality, 
and they determine in large measure of what our priorities and what our 
values are. They do not exist just by themselves.
  When you look into it, whether it is a balanced budget agreement or 
when you look into the tax cut package, you get a sense of what the 
priorities and values of this country are, and we have to be clear 
about what those values are as a Congress and as a nation.
  American middle-class families, people who are working hard, playing 
by the rules, are looking at the various tax proposals that are on the 
table at the moment and they are in fact wondering ``Who is on my 
side?''
  The tax proposal that has been made by the Republican majority says 
to the American public that they are on the side of the wealthiest 
Americans. Under the Republican bill, over half of the tax benefits go 
to 5 percent of Americans, those who are making over $247,000 a year. 
An additional quarter of the tax cuts go to families making between 
$75,000 and $250,000 a year. That means that the rest of the American 
people have to share what is left over. Under the Republican plan, the 
80 percent of Americans at the lowest end of the income scale receive 
less than 20 percent of the tax benefits. This is simply wrong.
  Democrats have proposed an alternative tax package whose benefits are 
targeted directly to working middle-class families. The message from 
the Democratic side of the aisle is that we are on their side, the 
message to working families today. These are just not my words. I might 
add that there have been a number of newspaper accounts in the last 
several days that comment on the Republican tax proposal.
  The Philadelphia Inquirer says, and this is Thursday, June 12: ``Bill 
Archer's Gift Horse: The Congressman's

[[Page H3894]]

tax cut plan looks good now, but in the long term only the rich will 
benefit. Average Americans would be the biggest winners, says U.S. 
Representative Bill Archer. Under his new tax cut plan, he has got a 
tax breakout there that shows three-quarters of tax relief going to 
households that earn less than $75,000 a year. Quote, sounds nice, but 
it is bogus. What he unveiled this week ought to be called the Tax 
Relief of the Money Class Act,'' end quote.
  The New York Times, June 11, 1997, describes the tax cut plan 
proposed by the Republican majority as a favor-the-rich tax plan. It 
says that the tax writing committee has come up with a proposal that 
barely eases the strain on middle-class families while showering the 
rich with benefits. To finance cuts in capital gains and inheritance 
taxes, Mr. Archer has held tax benefits for others at a minimum level.
  The Washington Post, June 11: ``A bad tax bill gets worse,'' with the 
same kind of commentary.
  The point is that we do have an opportunity with wanting to provide 
tax relief for working middle-class families today, and it would appear 
that the tax cut proposal by the Republican majority is not one that in 
fact meets the needs of working middle-class families, and in fact that 
the Democratic alternative looks at education tax cuts, looks at child 
care tax cuts, looks at a child care dependent tax credit that helps 
working families today, that focuses a capital gains tax cuts at small 
businesses, small farmers as well as the estate tax or inheritance tax, 
or, as my colleagues want to say, the death tax, which provides 
specifically targeted tax cuts at small farmers, small businesses, and 
provides the opportunity for those, in fact, who are working and, as I 
said, playing by the rules, to have the opportunity to get some tax 
relief.
  It would be wonderful if we could provide everyone with tax relief. 
The 5 percent of the wealthiest Americans in this country at this time 
do not need to have the opportunity for that relief in the same way 
that working families do today.

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