[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 90 (Tuesday, June 24, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H4226-H4227]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   WHO BENEFITS FROM THESE TAX CUTS?

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 21, 1997, the gentlewoman from Connecticut [Ms. DeLauro] is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, this is an important week in the House of 
Representatives. There is going to be a discussion and a debate and a 
vote on a tax cut. Democrats and Republicans are supporting tax cuts. I 
will repeat that. Democrats and Republicans are supporting tax cuts. 
The issue and the discussion and the debate will be about, from these 
tax cuts, who benefits? Who are the people in this country who are 
going to be the beneficiaries of this tax relief or these tax cuts?
  In fact, Mr. Speaker, there is a difference between the Republican 
tax cut proposal and the Democratic tax cut proposal. The Republican 
tax proposal hurts working, middle-class families. That is the truth, 
plain and simple. While my colleague on the other side of the aisle 
will stand in the well of this House and say otherwise, it is not, in 
fact, the truth.
  Here are the facts about the Republican tax proposal. Let me just 
mention recent, within the last couple of days, newspaper articles that 
talk about these tax proposals. Quote: Before Congress votes on 
anything, however, it should get its facts right. The Republicans 
present bogus, false, bogus, wrong tables suggesting that their tax 
package is fair. The tables

[[Page H4227]]

stop before the cuts that favor the wealthy on capital gains, 
inheritance taxes, and retirement accounts take hold. The tables 
suggest that the middle-class reaps most of the benefits, but 
independent analysts say that about 50 percent of the cuts will go to 
the richest 5 percent of taxpayers.
  Further newspaper account: The changes in Federal tax and benefit 
policies now working their way through Congress would eventually be 
worth thousands and thousands of dollars a year to the 5 million 
wealthiest families in America, while the 40 million families with the 
lowest incomes would actually lose money, a new study shows. The effect 
would be to widen the gap between the richest and the poorest families, 
a division that has been growing for the past 20 years.
  Mr. Speaker, working and middle-class families are going to be given 
the short end of the stick from the Republican tax cut proposal. Two-
wage-earner families who now have a child care tax credit, these folks 
are going to be penalized. These are two people in the work force who 
take advantage of a child care tax credit because they have to send 
their children for child care. They are going to be penalized by the 
Republican tax cut proposal.
  The Republican bill hurts working families by denying minimum wage to 
those who are struggling to make the transition from welfare to work. 
Instead of being rewarded for work, people are going to be treated as 
second class citizens and not be paid the minimum wage. The Republican 
bill hurts students by providing $15 billion less for the education 
initiatives, for the HOPE scholarships, that were promised in the 
budget agreement. Middle-class working families are going to be hurt.
  Mr. Speaker, who is benefiting from these tax cuts? Big business and 
the wealthy under the Republican tax proposal. It helps big business by 
scaling back something called the alternative minimum tax by $22 
billion. This was a tax that was supposed to ensure that the largest 
corporations in this country pay at least some tax. But now the 
Republicans want to scale it back and phase it out completely for some 
businesses. That means that some businesses would have a zero tax 
obligation.
  Further, over half of the benefits, as I have said, go to the top 5 
percent of America. These are the facts. Again, Mr. Speaker, do not 
take my word. Republican pundit Kevin Phillips, a conservative 
political commentator, has said, ``Republicans are determined to slash 
the capital gains tax, the estate tax, the corporate alternative 
minimum tax and some other provisions important to the people who write 
the campaign checks.'' Mr. Speaker, it clearly identifies who they want 
to help.
  The Democratic package is focused on middle-class families. It 
provides the majority of its benefits to families who are making less 
than $100,000 a year. It also includes $37 billion for tax credits to 
help students to pay for college. It provides relief to small 
businesses, homeowners, and farmers in the form of targeted capital 
gains and estate tax cuts. Finally, the bill does not allow for the 
explosion of the deficit in later years.
  Mr. Speaker, in this budget debate, it is clear whose side the 
Republicans are on: big business and the wealthy. In fact, it is the 
Democrats who can say and stand with pride and talk about how we are 
trying to provide tax relief for those people, working middle-class 
American families, who every single day are getting up and going to 
work and paying taxes and therefore need to have tax relief so that 
they can afford to raise their kids, educate them, pay for their health 
care, and help to pay for their retirement security.

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