[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 29 (Tuesday, March 17, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H1175]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1415
                   FIGHT FOR COMPREHENSIVE TAX REFORM

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, last week the Clinton administration 
gathered 40 lobbyists for a meeting at which the President urged them 
to publicly oppose our efforts to force changes in the current Tax Code 
by 2001. Realizing, of course, that working men and women in America 
are committed to idea of scrapping the current Tax Code, the President 
has now enlisted a group of spin doctors and Washington insiders to 
defend the status quo of our tax system.
  Well, I have a better idea of how the President can spend his time. 
Instead of gathering D.C. lobbyists and spin masters, who make their 
living off the complexities of our Tax Code, the President should 
gather 40 hard-working taxpayers and let them voice their frustration 
and outrage over the Clinton system.
  Mr. Speaker, the President would do well to simply listen to the 
horror stories from taxpayers about the abuse, intrusive and sometimes 
illegal acts committed by the IRS, rather than the lobbyists defending 
his Tax Code. Just such a meeting would convince the President to join 
rather than hinder our fight for comprehensive tax reform.

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