[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 115 (Thursday, September 4, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1656]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 2014, TAXPAYER RELIEF ACT OF 1997

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. VINCE SNOWBARGER

                               of kansas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 31, 1997

  Mr. SNOWBARGER. Mr. Speaker, I proudly support this landmark tax 
relief bill. Today, we give American families their first significant 
tax cut in 16 years. Families with children will receive a $400 credit 
for each child in 1998 and $500 per child beginning in 1999. Investors, 
most of whom are hard-working middle-class citizens, will get a 
significant reduction in the capital gains tax. Millions of parents 
will be able to pass on the family business or farm to their children 
without worrying whether they can pay the estate taxes. Expanded IRA's 
will make home ownership and education possible for more families than 
before. And all of this is done within the context of the Republican 
commitment to the first balanced budget in three decades.
  Along with most Americans, I wish this bill provided even more tax 
relief. In fact, I believe we should have cut tax rates across the 
board. And I regret that the President insisted on continuing to tax 
Americans on income that is solely the result of inflation. But with 
President Clinton in the White House, a more comprehensive tax relief 
plan simply was not possible.
  This is not a perfect bill, but it is a reasonable compromise between 
Republican efforts to win tax relief for American families and 
President Clinton's insistence on more Government spending. We should 
consider how far we have come in the 4 short years since President 
Clinton and the Democrats raised taxes on every working--and 
nonworking--American. The American people rejected the big-government 
Democrats in 1994 and 1996 and elected Republicans to Congress to 
restrain the growth of Government and allow families to keep more of 
what they earn. Republicans heard that plea and today we are 
delivering.
  Last week, when the President and many Members of Congress were 
considering bowing to the President's attempt to renege on the size of 
the tax relief we had pledged to the American people, I wrote the 
members of the conference committee, insisting they give us a bill that 
would allow us to keep our word. I am very pleased to say that since my 
letter was sent, the tax relief in this bill was restored to its full 
amount. I thank the conferees for responding to my concern.
  American families can keep more of their money because we kept our 
word.
  Now we should turn our attention toward simplifying the Tax Code and 
reforming the IRS. I will introduce legislation after the August recess 
to provide for a flat tax at the option of each individual taxpayer and 
I expect to be involved in congressional oversight of gross abuses at 
the IRS.

                          ____________________