[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 34 (Tuesday, March 4, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H1478]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        SIMPLIFIED FAMILY CREDIT

  (Mr. EMANUEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, in the coming weeks I intend to introduce a 
bill to create the simplified family credit, real tax relief for 
working families with children. My proposal would help grow the 
economy, simplify the IRS code by merging an array of tax benefits, the 
earned income tax credit with approximately 4.3 million families 
eligible Americans, including 1.7 families with children, who, today, 
do not get, because of the complexity of the code, the child tax 
credit, the additional child credit, and the dependent exemption into a 
single credit, thereby shrinking well over 2,000 pages of the IRS Tax 
Code down to 12 easy questions.
  This would also go a long way toward significantly reducing the 
marriage penalty, rewarding work and making the Tax Code more child 
friendly. Regardless of what political party we come from, we should 
all agree that these goals and that the Tax Code ought to reflect these 
values.
  Despite the prospect of a war with Iraq, a stubborn recession, 2 
million more unemployed Americans, urgent health care needs for the 
additional 4 million American that are without health care, we insist 
on debating a tax cut for the wealthiest in this country rather than 
focusing on those who need it most. A simplified credit in contrast is 
less, and far more responsive to the needs of working families.

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