[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 91 (Wednesday, June 25, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H4615-H4616]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TAX CUTS SHOULD BE FAIR

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Arkansas [Mr. Snyder] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SNYDER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the staff for putting in yet another 
late evening here on behalf of the people of America.
  Mr. Speaker, I support a balanced budget. I strongly support it and 
all the things it can do for the business climate in this country. I 
voted for the budget deal and was one of the two-thirds of the 
Democratic side that did vote for the budget deal for a balanced 
budget, and as we know here that includes a tax cut over the next 5 
years totaling $135 billion.
  Tomorrow we are going to make a choice about what type of tax cut we 
want, what type of tax cut do we think America would benefit from. And 
Mr. Speaker, I consider this to be the good side of partisanship, that 
there is going to be a choice we make tomorrow between the Republican 
plan and Democratic plan; and we are in the minority party, but we have 
an alternative that we think is better.
  For me the issue comes down to what is the best tax cut plan for 
Arkansas. That is where I am from. What is going to be best for the 
working middle class families of Arkansas, for farmers, for self-
employed, for the small business folks of Arkansas, for those American 
who play by the rules, work hard and pay taxes? Let me deal first, Mr. 
Speaker, with the child tax credit.
  I am going to protect last names here, but this is Judy and her two 
lovely children, constituents of mine in central Arkansas. Judy makes 
$7.50 an hour. That works out to a total of $15,000 a year.
  Now under the Republican plan because she qualifies for the earned 
income tax credit, a credit that has been supported by every President 
including Ronald Reagan since Ronald Reagan; because she takes 
advantage of that earned income tax credit, under the Republican plan, 
she will not qualify for the $300 or $500 per child tax credit.
  Now the argument we hear is that, well, she does not pay income tax, 
that

[[Page H4616]]

she does not pay income tax. Yes, she pays payroll taxes, but that does 
not count. I have a copy of her payroll stub. You know this is what we 
get every week or month, Mr. Speaker, and we look on here and we kind 
of get that empty feeling in our belly when we see how much taxes came 
out of it.
  Yes, she pays income tax, but she also pays the payroll tax. And here 
is what she pays for her Medicare and her Social Security, the FICA 
tax, the payroll tax, that all employers and all working people in 
America pay.
  Please do not tell her that she does not pay taxes. But because of 
the way the Republican plan is written, even though she has two 
children and pays $1,150 a year in payroll taxes, even though she pays 
that level of taxes, she does not qualify under the Republican bill for 
a per child tax credit even though she has those two lovely children. 
She plays by the rules, she pays her taxes. Some reward, Mr. Speaker, 
for being a good American.
  Let me show you another picture. This is another family that are 
constituents of mine. This is Judy and her two children. Her children 
are older. She is to the point now she better be thinking about 
college, and I know Judy well enough to know that she is. She makes 
approximately $31,000 a year and she will qualify because of her income 
for the per child tax credit. But let us talk about the college aspect 
of it.
  Under the Democratic plan she will be able to get $1,500, when the 
full credit kicks in, per child per year for her children's college for 
the first 2 years. But under the Republican plan she will also get 
$1,500 per child but it will be calculated differently. It will be 
calculated 50 percent of the first $3,000 of tuition and expenses. It 
sounds the same; does it not? They are both going to get $1,500. But it 
is not the same for Arkansas.
  Pulaski Technical College in North Little Rock, the tuition is a 
thousand dollars, a little over a thousand dollars a year. For 
Foothills Technical Institute in White County, Arkansas, gods county, 
Mr. Speaker, if you are looking for a place to move, the total tuition 
per year is $672 a year. You take 50 percent of that, if you go to 
Foothills Technical, you will get about $350 tax credit, not the 
$1,500.
  It is just wrong under that Republican bill to tell folks if you go 
to an expensive school, you get the full $1,500. If you choose to go to 
a 2-year community college or school like Foothills Technical 
Institute, you do not get the full credit even though your tuition is 
under $1,500.
  Judy works hard, she plays by the rules, she pays taxes; she does 
much better under the Democratic bill, not the Republican alternative.
  And finally today, Mr. Speaker, I had these letters delivered to my 
office from farmers throughout Arkansas, my district, and they are 
concerned, every one of them, about the estate tax. Every one of them 
is either handwritten or hand typed.
  Folks say: Well, estate tax just favors the rich. If you are a small 
business person or a farmer, you are very concerned about that having 
to be broken up when you pass away. Under the Democratic plan the 
relief is immediate. Under the Republican plan the relief is delayed 
until the year 2007.

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