[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 111 (Monday, August 2, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H6839-H6840]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     $800 BILLION TAX CUT, BUT NOT FOR THE MIDDLE OR LOWER CLASSES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Olver) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. OLVER. Mr. Speaker, I am sure that I am making friends with all 
of the members of the staff by taking 5 minutes at this hour, including 
the Speaker, but since I have stayed here this long, I will take the 5 
minutes.
  Mr. Speaker, we are told that this is the week that the main business 
is going to be, for this Congress, is the final passage of an $800 
billion tax cut.
  The Republican leadership says that their tax cut, at least that one 
which passed the House of Representatives, is for the middle class. But 
I would like to raise that question. The bill which passed the House of 
Representatives about 2 weeks ago had the following features: the 1.25 
million taxpayers representing the 1 percent wealthiest, richest 
portion of the population each, on average, got $54,000 of tax 
reduction. Those are the 1 percent whose incomes is more than $300,000 
per year.
  At the other end of the scale, starting from the bottom, from the 
lowest income person in this society issuing a tax return, if we took 
all 95 percent, starting from the lowest income and coming up to an 
income of $125,000 a year, all 95 percent of that population, all 120 
million would have received 39 percent of the total tax cut; whereas, 
the 1.25 million, the wealthiest 1.25 million, or 1 percent, would have 
received 45 percent of that total tax reduction. The 1 percent richest 
of Americans got more than all 95 percent of our population whose 
income is beneath 125,000.
  If I may put that in a slightly different way, if those who may still 
be watching would consider 100 people, 100 people, one of whom has 
income over $300,000 and consider that we might have $100 of tax 
reduction to be able to distribute among those 100 people, that that 
one person whose income is greater than $300,000 would get $45 of the 
total of $100 that is available for all tax reduction for all 
Americans.

                              {time}  2300

  Whereas 95 people, starting at the lowest income, up to the persons 
who might have $125,000 of income, that group of 95 people would find 
that they were able to receive only a total of $39 divided among the 95 
of them.
  Now, I do not know how many people would believe that that was a fair 
distribution that would suggest that this tax cut was for the middle 
class. That is hardly a middle class tax cut. In fact, it is designed 
to make the already rich a great deal richer. And that the middle 
class, those people between incomes of $20,000 and perhaps $80,000 per 
year, would receive $1 or $2 a day, hardly a middle class tax cut.
  But that is only a small part of the story. The rest of the story is 
what the

[[Page H6840]]

Republican leadership makes impossible if this rich-get-very-much-
richer bill were to become law. I forgot to bring the chart that I have 
here, but I will get it because I would like to show the American 
people what happens on just one issue, and that is the issue of the 
Nation's debt.
  If this tax bill is passed, as it was passed in the House of 
Representatives, then it would be nearly impossible to reduce the 
Nation's debt. Let me show this chart. This chart shows where the 
present $3.7 trillion of debt that is publicly held was created.
  The first 38 presidents, from George Washington, our first president, 
through Mr. Ford, our 38th president, produced $549 billion of debt. 
President Carter, in his 4 years, created an additional $236 billion of 
debt. President Reagan created, in his 8 years, $1.4 trillion. 
President Bush, $1.1 trillion, and President Clinton, in his almost 7 
years, an additional $472 billion.

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