[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 104 (Tuesday, July 22, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H5494-H5495]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        A BLOODY SHIRT ON TAXES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 21, 1997, the gentleman from California [Mr. Dreier] is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, I have taken this time to continue with 
the debate that my very good friend from Martinez, CA, Mr. Miller, was 
engaged in; but I have a completely different view. Actually, it was 
put forward very well by a former adviser to President Clinton.
  Yes, he served also in Republican administrations; but he most 
recently in his public service was an adviser to President Clinton. I 
am referring to the editor-at-large of U.S. News & World Report, who in 
this week's U.S. News & World Report on the back page has an editorial, 
which I would commend to all of my colleagues on both sides of the 
aisle as this debate proceeds.
  The editorial is entitled ``A Bloody Shirt on Taxes: It's time for 
the left to stop twisting the truth about tax relief.''
  Now, the gentleman from California [Mr. Miller] was referring to many

[[Page H5495]]

people who have said that this package that we have put forward is 
nothing but a sop for the rich. But if we look at the facts, I am very 
happy to say that many Democrats in this House know full well that this 
tax package is, in fact, very, very helpful to middle and lower income 
wage earners in this country.
  There are a few points that Mr. Gergen makes in this piece which I 
would like to share with my colleagues. He says, the central liberal 
charge is that the bills adopted by the GOP-led Senate and House would 
give as much tax relief to the top 1 percent as to the bottom 60 
percent combined. Sounds horrific, doesn't it? What they ignore, as Jim 
Glassman of U.S. News & World Report noted, is the top 1 percent also 
pay more in taxes than the bottom 60 percent combined, a lot more. IRS 
records show that the top 1 percent shoulder 29 percent of the Nation's 
total tax bill, while the bottom 60 percent pay some 9 percent.
  Recognize that we singled out the top 1 percent for tax hikes in that 
1993 bill that the President moved through. It also would not be 
terribly unfair to include them in at least a modicum of tax relief 
today.
  He goes on to talk about this issue of funny money, which my friend 
from Florida, [Mr. Stearns] mentioned earlier, this imputed income 
whereby if someone paid off their mortgage, they in fact have what 
would be the rental income included as income to them, and it is 
actually obviously money they would never see.
  Mr. Gergen writes that stripping away the funny money, the Census 
Bureau shows that the top 20 percent really starts with households 
earning $65,124 a year. That means that the criticism that has come 
from the left, Madam Speaker, is they are pretending that families that 
make $65,124 are categorized as rich.
  Then a very important item that needs to be mentioned, one that I 
have been working on since the opening day of this Congress and, 
frankly, for a number of years, is this issue of capital gains.
  When I mention how Democrats have joined with me in cosponsoring very 
important legislation, H.R. 14, to bring about an across-the-board 
reduction in capital gains, it is because they know that the average 
family of four would see an increase of $1,500 per year over a 7-year 
period in their take-home pay.
  Mr. Gergen says another shell game on the left involves proposed 
reductions in capital gains and estate taxes. Liberals say it is 
selfish for people who invest in stocks or save for their children to 
receive tax relief. But they ignore the fact that these funds have 
already been taxed, when they were first earned. To tax earnings a 
second time at rates as high as 55 percent, which is the case with 
inheritance taxes, borders on confiscation.

  Now, Madam Speaker, we know full well that we are in this together, 
and I think Gergen's closing paragraph is a very telling one.

       This country does face serious challenges in addressing the 
     growing income gap between those who are affluent and 
     everyone else. Clearly, we should be working harder to ensure 
     that children of poor and middle-class families have an equal 
     chance at the starting line of life. Just as clearly, those 
     who have the most should give the most back. But the way the 
     left is trying to twist this tax debate, bullyragging 
     successful Americans as a way to score political points 
     trivializes the real issues and divides us as a people. We 
     don't need another bloody shirt.

  Madam Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to read this editorial, and 
I will send it around to everyone.

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