[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 91 (Wednesday, June 25, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H4614-H4615]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          TAXPAYER RELIEF ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Texas [Ms. Jackson-Lee] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because we are 
about to take up a bill called by the Republican the Taxpayer Relief 
Act. If you look closely at this bill, a better name would be ``The 
Rich get Richer Act.''
  This is no secret, Mr. Speaker. It's in all the newspapers, it's 
Republican payback time. It's no secret who the members on the other 
side of the aisle represent. More than half the benefits of the 
Republicans tax plan go to people who make an average of $250,000 a 
year. The next 25% of their tax breaks go to those making more than 
$75,000.
  And who gets the crumbs, Mr. Speaker. Who is shortchanging the 
American working families? As is the usual case when the Republicans 
talk about relief, they talk about helping their wealthy friends. They 
are now working to cut taxes on the profits made from the sale of 
stocks and bonds beyond the amount of taxes paid on wages, they are 
working to end the corporate alternative minimum tax, they are working 
to give IRA tax preferences to the top 20% of taxpayers, and they are 
working hard to cut the taxes on estates that would benefit the top 2% 
of estates.
  Mr. Speaker, the numbers are clear for the Republicans. Help the high 
incomes, help those in the highest tax brackets and the Republican know 
that they can help themselves. They know that the big corporations will 
help them if they end the alternative minimum tax so some of our 
largest corporations can avoid paying any taxes again. We closed this 
loophole some time ago and now they want to open it up again. It is no 
secret who is dancing with the Republicans, where their bread is 
buttered.
  This is the party that cuts out working Americans making less than 
$15,900, 15 million working, tax paying wage-earners who the 
Republicans say are getting welfare if they are given the same $500 per 
child tax credit that Republicans say their friends making more than 
$250,000 should get.
  Let's do the Republican math-make less than $15,900 and you don't 
need a $500 per child tax credit-make more than $250,000 and you do 
need the same tax credit. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see 
where the Republicans are coming from.
  In my own district, in the 18th Congressional District in Texas, the 
median household income in about $22,000 a year. Will the Republican 
bill help most of them? Will the tax cuts they are proposing help the 
majority of my constituents? Will the Republican cuts help the majority 
of American? How much do the Republicans think the American people will 
stand for?
  This is where the American people can see the clear differences 
between the Democrats and the Republicans. The Democratic plan--the 
plan authored by the distinguished Ranking Member of the Ways and Means 
Committee, Representative Charles Rangel--is a plan that gives tax 
relief where it is need-to working families, hard working taxpaying 
families.
  The Democratic alternative calls for three-quarters of their tax 
breaks going to people making less than $58,000 a year. There are tax 
cuts for small business owners, there are tax credits for the parents 
of all of our children, there are tax breaks for families that are 
trying to send their children to college. Sure,

[[Page H4615]]

the Republicans have their education tax plan, but it wouldn't help 
those going to our community colleges much.
  Democrats have a fairer plan for capital gains cuts-the Republican 
plan now means that for wealthy investors, they will pay a lower 
effective rate on the profits of the sale of their stocks than a 
moderate income family pays on their wages. Democrats would allow those 
who are forced to sell their home at a loss some tax relief-the 
Republicans don't. Democrats target a fairer capital gains cut for 
small businesses and farmers. Our estate tax relief is aimed at giving 
families who want to pass on their small businesses a break rather than 
the well off who don't really need these kinds of tax cuts.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time for the American people to draw the line in 
the sand. It is time for the working families out thee to be heard. It 
is time to stand up and be counted. Who does this House of the People 
stand for? There is nothing more basic than taxes and the difference 
between the Republicans tax package and the Democratic tax package is 
plain for Americans to see. It is time to stand up and really be 
counted.

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