[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 52 (Thursday, April 15, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H2059]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 HOW MUCH LONGER WILL TAXERS AND SPENDERS BLOCK REPUBLICAN EFFORTS TO 
                         IMPROVE THE TAX CODE?

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Madam Speaker, last night was a depressing, demoralizing, 
and most of all expensive night for millions of Americans. It was a 
terrible night for productive citizens, because for the producers, 
those who work and pay the taxes, last night was the day of reckoning 
that had finally come.
  Americans were skipping their bowling night, cancelling bridge 
parties, throwing their movie guides into the trash. Last night was a 
night instead to do battle with a harmless sounding form known as the 
1040.
  Of course, for many of us, the old 1040 is the least of our problems. 
There is the Schedule A, Schedule E, Schedule Z451MDUM and all the 
rest. Deductions and exemptions and special cases and three-pronged 
tests, depending on whether you are right-handed or left-handed or like 
chocolate chip cookies, it is just too much, even for the accountants, 
even for the IRS.
  How much longer will the taxers and spenders continue to defend the 
special interests, the status quo, and block the efforts of Republicans 
to pass a lower, simpler, flatter Tax Code?

                          ____________________