[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 52 (Thursday, April 15, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H2058]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                THE POWER TO TAX IS THE POWER TO DESTROY

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Madam Speaker, it was 180 years ago that Daniel Webster 
said in the case of McCullough v. Maryland that the power to tax is the 
power to destroy. Well, today this Federal Government has been 
destroying working families all across America with excess taxation.
  I rise today to support H.J. Res. 37, the Tax Limitation Amendment, 
that will put a leash on this Federal Government by requiring a two-
thirds majority vote in both Houses to raise taxes.
  In 1994, as a private citizen, I led an effort to amend our own State 
constitution with very similar language. I am proud to say that Nevada 
voters in two consecutive elections overwhelmingly passed that measure, 
and it has become a Nevada law. By passing this law, the citizens in 
Nevada declared in a loud and clear voice that they want to put a leash 
on the way government spending and burdensome taxes are increased.
  States whose governments have similarly imposed a supermajority 
requirement for tax increases experience greater economic growth, lower 
taxes and a reduced growth in government spending. The Federal 
Government needs to put this same fat-free diet into existence by 
making it more difficult to raise taxes on America's hard-working men 
and women.

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