[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 80 (Tuesday, June 3, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H4849]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            JOBS AND GROWTH, TAX CREDITS AND SMALL BUSINESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hensarling) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, last Wednesday President Bush signed the 
Jobs and Growth Act of 2003, a bill I was proud to cosponsor.
  After liberating the people of Iraq from despotism, it was time to 
liberate the American family from economic uncertainty. The best way to 
do that is to create jobs and economic growth, and although this bill 
has been substantially compromised, the bill was designed to do just 
that. Yet there are some in this body who still complain. They say the 
bill is not fair. They say that there is not tax relief for the poor.
  Mr. Speaker, they are wrong. First, for all practical purposes, poor 
people do not pay income taxes. In fact, in this bill, we take 3.7 
million Americans off the tax rolls. That is right, almost 4 million 
people who paid income taxes last year will pay no income taxes this 
year. None. How much more tax relief can you receive than having your 
tax bill canceled, torn up, thrown away? These Americans join millions 
of other low-income Americans who have already been taken off the tax 
rolls in recent history.
  By lowering marginal rates, Mr. Speaker, other lower-income Americans 
benefit as well. Many who were in the 15 percent bracket last year are 
now in the 10 percent bracket. The net result is, the bottom 50 percent 
of wage earners in America now pay 3.9 percent of the income taxes. In 
contrast, the top 10 percent of wage earners in America pay over 50 
percent of the income taxes.
  What the critics of this bill fail to appreciate is that tax relief 
is for taxpayers. If you do not pay taxes, you should not expect tax 
relief.
  Mr. Speaker, it is clear that some in this body are confusing tax 
relief with welfare. Welfare is about direct government assistance to 
those who are at or near the poverty line. Fortunately, under a 
Republican Congress we have continued to move millions of Americans 
from welfare to work, and we have increased Federal child care funding 
by 166 percent. We have increased funding for housing by 75 percent. 
Just this past year we committed $17 billion to the TANF program.
  Tax relief is different from welfare. Tax relief is about allowing 
taxpayers to keep more of what they have earned, earned through their 
hard work, keeping more of their own wages for their families.
  Mr. Speaker, let us not forget, it is not the government's money, it 
is the American family's money. If critics of the Jobs and Growth Act 
truly care about low-income people, they should help move them off of 
welfare, off of welfare checks, onto paychecks. In other words, they 
should join us in creating jobs.
  But, Mr. Speaker, jobs are not to be found hanging in the trees, nor 
do they fall from the sky, and they sure are not brought to us by the 
Federal Government. Jobs are created by hard-working, risk-taking, 
visionary men and women who, with access to capital, roll up their 
sleeves, and they work hard to create that next generation of software, 
a new automobile repair shop, an innovative sign painting company, or 
any other enterprise.
  Small business is the job engine of America. It creates two out of 
three jobs in our country. But, Mr. Speaker, the number one impediment 
to launching a new job-creating enterprise is access to capital. That 
is why we cut capital gains and dividend taxes in this bill. You cannot 
have capitalism without capital, and by lowering these tax rates, we 
will spur capital formation, the lifeblood of small business.
  Additionally, we have lowered marginal tax rates. This is important, 
because 80 percent of the tax relief from reducing the top marginal 
rate goes to small business owners and entrepreneurs.
  Mr. Speaker, I have had a number of jobs in my life. I used to clean 
out chicken houses. I used to bus tables. I have loaded windows on a 
loading dock. I have been an officer in two companies and started my 
own small business. In all of those jobs, not one low-income person has 
ever hired me. It was a taxpayer, a taxpayer who had vision, who had 
access to capital and went out and took a risk. If we want jobs, these 
are the people who need tax relief.
  If we really care about low-income families in America, and if we 
truly want to be fair, let us quit trying to turn the Tax Code into a 
welfare system. Let us give tax relief to taxpayers, to small 
businessmen, to entrepreneurs, and go out and create jobs, jobs, jobs 
and more jobs.

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