[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 100 (Thursday, July 15, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H5578]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      FAIRNESS IN TAX CODE SHOULD BE ADDRESSED AS WELL AS TAX CUTS

  (Mr. BAIRD asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BAIRD. Mr. Speaker, like my colleagues, I want to insist that as 
we look towards tax changes and towards the budget, we set first and 
foremost the priority of paying down the debt and of protecting Social 
Security and Medicare.
  But, Mr. Speaker, if we are going to address tax cuts, there is one 
which we should address first and foremost, and that has to do with 
restoring fairness to the tax code. Currently, a small number of States 
subsidize the rest of the Federal Government. Those States in which we 
have sales tax but no income tax pay higher taxes than those in other 
States with an income tax. The reason is that those with sales taxes 
are not allowed to deduct their sales tax from their Federal income tax 
returns. Some of the States include Washington State, my own, 
Tennessee, Nevada, Texas, and Florida.
  Mr. Speaker, hard-working men and women and their families deserve 
the same tax break in those States as in the rest of the country. And 
if we are going to make changes to the tax code, let us begin by 
restoring fairness, by allowing a simple change to the code and 
allowing people to deduct either their State income tax or the amount 
they pay in State sales tax from their Federal tax return.

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