[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 16 (Thursday, February 26, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H635]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 AMERICA'S BACKBONE DESERVES A TAX CUT

  (Mr. PETERSON of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PETERSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, there are some who think 
that Americans generally are undertaxed. There are those who think that 
the current tax burden is just about right. And then there are those 
who think Americans send too much money to Washington and are just flat 
not getting their money's worth. I fall into that category, as do, I 
suspect, most of my Republican colleagues.
  Mr. Speaker, Americans do not mind paying their fair share. Americans 
truly are a people that want to see others get ahead, especially those 
who face greater obstacles in life than most of us face. But Americans 
do not like to see their money wasted. They are not happy about a 
Federal Government in Washington, D.C. that just keeps getting bigger 
and bigger while at the same time becoming less and less accountable to 
the people.
  Simply put, Washington has gotten too big, too powerful and 
Washington should not be taking between one-third and one-half of a 
middle-class family's income.
  Mr. Speaker, I do not care what the temporary polls show. I think the 
middle-class, the backbone of America, could use a break. The Tax Code 
is aggressive. It raises our taxes without a law change. We need a tax 
cut to make sure that middle America does not have a tax increase that 
just happens automatically because of the aggressiveness of the code.

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