[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 100 (Tuesday, July 15, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H5193]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               TAX CUTS SHOULD BE FOR THOSE WHO PAY TAXES

  (Mr. BALLENGER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BALLENGER. Mr. Speaker, remember when a tax cut meant paying less 
taxes? That was not too long ago. Taxes were something you paid, not 
something you got. The tax cuts I am talking about are tax cuts that 
reduce the amount you pay. A tax cut does not mean that anyone gives me 
anything, it means the Government is taking less.
  I have no hope whatsoever that the other side will understand this 
point, but my constituents asked that I keep trying. When the 
Government takes a little less from the taxpayers, no one else is worse 
off. However, when the Government gives somebody some money, like the 
earned income tax credit, for example, that is at the expense of 
somebody else. The taxpayers pay for that.
  Some Members' idea of a tax cut means that the taxpayers pay more. 
That is nonsense. A tax cut is not at the expense of other taxpayers. A 
tax cut to those who do not pay income taxes is at the expense of 
others. That makes all the difference.

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