[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 96 (Wednesday, July 9, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H4921]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TAX REDUCTION FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS

  (Mr. COBURN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. COBURN. Mr. Speaker, I do not usually get up here and talk, but 
there is a lot of absences that we did not hear just a minute ago, a 
lot of things that were left out.
  There are 4 million people today who are receiving Federal income 
money who earn no money. It is called the earned income tax credit. It 
is 36 percent of the claims for that are fraud. It is the most abused 
system that we have.
  It is not about leaving those people out. It is about creating an 
opportunity for them to join the rest of America through a tax 
reduction that is for middle class America. They are already granted 
earned income tax credits.
  What we are saying is, if they work and pay taxes, they ought to get 
a tax cut. If they do not work and we are already giving them a 
payment, maybe we should not give them more so we can encourage them to 
work.

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