[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 114 (Wednesday, September 3, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S8738]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO NORMAN B. TURE

 Mr. ABRAHAM. Mr. President, It is with great sadness that I 
rise today to mark the passing of Dr. Norman B. Ture, President of the 
Institute for Research on the Economics of Taxation and one of the 
principal architects of supply side economics.
  Dr. Ture was a man of principle. He was convinced, and he convinced 
many others, that public policy must be guided by respect for 
individual freedom and property rights, reliance on personal 
responsibility and integrity, and faith in the free market as the means 
for ordering economic activity. His brilliant economic analysis helped 
show that increasing marginal income tax rates lower productivity by 
skewing people's choices away from work and toward leisure activities. 
He was a major architect of the Reagan tax cuts of the early 1980's, 
serving as Undersecretary for Tax and Economic Affairs in the Reagan 
Treasury Department from 1981 to 1982. Less noticed, however, was his 
significant role in putting together the Kennedy tax cuts of 1963. 
Whether on a committee staff, in the executive branch or as an 
independent researcher, Dr. Ture devoted his career to increasing 
Americans' standards of living by making taxes less onerous.
  Dr. Ture also fought to convince public policy makers of the need to 
make taxes more visible. Hidden taxes on investments and estates, 
overly broad definitions of income, and onerous regulations that allow 
government to control economic activities in his view act as drags on 
the economy and obscure the real costs of government. These policies, 
Dr. Ture showed, unfairly make government interference in our economic 
life appear cheap or even cost free. They thereby encourage people to 
accept more regulation than is in their financial interest, and to give 
up more of their freedom than they should.
  Dr. Ture passed away on August 10. He had fought off lung cancer but 
finally was felled by cancer of the pancreas. He is survived by his 
wife, six children, and two grandchildren. I know our thoughts and 
prayers go out to all Dr. Ture's family in this time of great sorrow.
  It is some consolation, however, that we will soon see Dr. Ture's 
last report. Soon before he died, Dr. Ture finished work on a paper 
laying out a clean, unbiased, highly visible tax system that would let 
the people see the price of government and make an informed decision as 
to how much of it they are willing to pay for. I look forward to the 
fruitful debate Dr. Ture's final work will no doubt produce.

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