[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 19 (Tuesday, March 3, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H701]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 TAXES

  (Mr. TIAHRT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. TIAHRT. Mr. Speaker, yesterday on page 1 of USA Today, there was 
a very interesting chart that is here to my left. It shows the rising 
tax load. While that is no surprise to anyone paying taxes over the 
past few decades, this chart caught my eye for several reasons. It 
shows that the tax burden has been rising steadily since 1965 for 
families with one working parent and for families with both working 
parents. Either way, married or single, Uncle Sam takes more and more, 
and families pay more and more. That is a formula that brings joy to 
the hearts of big government liberals and Federal bureaucrats and 
government planners of all sorts. But it does not do much for families 
who are trying to get ahead.
  It is time to change that course. The tax burden on American 
families, especially middle-class families, is too high. It has been 
going up for years, and it is time to go the other direction. It is 
time for some tax relief for the middle class, the backbone of America, 
that plays by the rules, works hard and pays the taxes.

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