[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 86 (Thursday, June 19, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H4074]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               TAX REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Fox] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to address my 
colleagues and have them be part of a dialog on a very important topic. 
That is tax reform.
  This Congress has a historic opportunity to work with American 
families to make sure that they keep more of their hard-earned money 
which their jobs have produced, which their investments have produced.
  As a broad outline we are talking about a $500 per child tax credit, 
reduction of inheritance taxes. How many people across Pennsylvania and 
other States are taking all the money that would be from the farm or 
the business but they have to sell the farm or the business to pay for 
inheritance taxes?
  We have an opportunity here in the coming weeks to pass the kind of 
reductions in inheritance taxes so that the heirs of the people who own 
the businesses and the farm will make sure their children have the 
benefit of what their hard-earned dollars bought.
  We also are talking about the reduction of capital gains tax. This is 
very important for individuals and businesses. By having this, we 
increase savings. We increase investment. We increase jobs. You only 
have to look to the Kennedy and Reagan administrations, Democrat and 
Republican administrations, last time we had a capital gains tax 
reduction we saw a great upward mobility of this country. We saw a 
great growth.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Kingston] for 
the comments he has from his district as it relates to the need for tax 
reform.
  Mr. KINGSTON. In terms of the hard-working middle class Americans, 
they do need tax relief. Their tax burden right now is about 38 percent 
per family. That is up 1 percent from what it was 2 years prior, but it 
is very important for us to realize that 75 percent of the tax relief 
proposed goes to families with household income of $75,000 or less. 
Ninety-one percent of it goes to families with household income of 
$100,000 or less. And for families with income of $200,000 or more, 
there is only 1.2 percent of the money for their tax relief.
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Most of the tax reform we are talking about 
in Congress is for the middle class.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Absolutely.
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Hard-working persons who are out there in 
industry and business.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, the fraud that is being perpetuated by 
those who say this is a tax cut for the wealthy is just outrageous. 
They know better in their heart of hearts. How they can even look 
themselves in the mirror and say that this is a tax cut for the wealthy 
is beyond me.
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from 
New Jersey [Mr. Pappas]. I know that he has been working hard in this 
committee and with his constituents in New Jersey to try to make sure 
we give tax relief.
  Mr. PAPPAS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me. 
When I go back home, I do not use terms like ``budget reconciliation'' 
or ``budget resolution'' or ``CR,'' which is an abbreviation for 
continuing resolution. I talk to my constituents about balancing the 
budget, cutting taxes, plain language that they use every day and that 
I think we should use more around here.
  I am very fortunate, as my friends are here, to be part of this 
Congress, which I am convinced is going to enact permanent tax relief 
for American families that really is going to make a difference in 
quality of life, the lives of the people that we represent.
  As we all know, the Committee on Ways and Means, just within the last 
week or so, has been marking up a bill that will include these things. 
The gentleman spoke about estate tax reform. Most people are referring 
to that now as a death tax. That is exactly what it is.
  The American dream for many people is to work hard all of your life 
and to build a business that you can pass on to your kids. That 
American dream is becoming a nightmare for so many families in our 
country and that is very unfortunate. We have the opportunity here, I 
believe we have the obligation in this Congress, in Washington, DC, to 
enact that kind of tax reform that will enable family-owned businesses, 
family-owned farms to be passed from one generation to the next.
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I think it is also interesting 
to note that not only are we talking about tax relief for inheritance 
taxes, capital gains, the $500 per child tax credit, but also tax 
deductibility for a college loan. This is a step in the right 
direction.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Colorado [Mr. Bob 
Schaffer].
  Mr. BOB SCHAFFER of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, it is interesting, when 
you hear the liberals here in Washington, as we heard all day today 
talking about the Congress giving something to taxpayers, this notion 
that government gives something away when we lower taxes is a fallacy 
in and of itself.
  It really underlies the problems with the arguments that they try to 
make, insulting our efforts to try to provide tax relief for American 
families and to allow for families to keep more of what they earn for 
themselves. This government takes things away from the American people. 
It confiscates the wealth of families and sends it here to Washington 
where we distribute it to the charity of the government's choice.
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to 
start the dialog on tax reform which is so important to the American 
people.

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