[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 97 (Thursday, July 10, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H5029]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT MIGHT BE A GOOD PLACE FOR THE PRESIDENT TO CUT 
                             SOME SPENDING

  (Mr. GUTKNECHT asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GUTKNECHT. Mr. Speaker, I would like to quote from a famous news 
anchor: ``Finally, a few words about Federal taxes and what some of the 
great minds in the U.S. Treasury are thinking about.
  ``The Treasury likes to calculate American people's income on the 
ability to pay taxes, based not on how much money we have but on how 
much we might have, or could have had. For example, a family that owns 
a house and lives in it, the Treasury figures that if the family did 
not own the house and rented it from somebody else, the rent would be 
$500 a month, so it would add that amount--$6,000 a year--to the 
family's so-called imputed income. Imputed income is income you might 
have had but don't. They don't tax you on that amount. The IRS does not 
play this silly game. Instead, the Treasury calculates how much they 
could take away from us if they decided to.
  ``If that were the system, consider the possibility. How about being 
taxed on Ed McMahon's $10 million magazine lottery? You didn't win it, 
you say. But you could have.
  ``The Treasury must have something better to do. If not, there is a 
good place for Clinton to cut some spending.'' David Brinkley, ABC 
news, February 28, 1993.

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