[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 45 (Wednesday, April 22, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H2124]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TAX LIMITATION AMENDMENT WORKS

  (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, I rise today to tell my colleagues, and as 
well, the American people, that the tax limitation amendment works. 
Fourteen States have now adopted language that includes tax 
limitations, including my home State of Nevada.
  In tax limitation States, taxes grow more slowly and government 
spending grows more slowly. On the other hand, the economies expand 
faster and the job base grows more quickly. Today, we have an 
opportunity to allow the Federal Government and the national economy to 
get the same benefits.
  It is helpful for us to remember that after taking control in 1994, 
the Republican Congress balanced the Federal budget for the first time 
in a generation. It was done by reducing wasteful government spending, 
not by raising taxes.
  Now that we have reached a balanced budget, the tax limitation 
constitutional amendment will ensure that future Congresses do not 
resort to the old ``tax and spend'' ways of the past. This legislation 
makes raising taxes on the American people exactly what it should be, a 
last resort.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in support of this 
important and much-needed legislation.

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