[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 71 (Wednesday, May 19, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E914]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  PERMANENT EXTENSION OF 10-PERCENT INDIVIDUAL INCOME TAX RATE BRACKET

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                               speech of

                           HON. RUSH D. HOLT

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 13, 2004

  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of making permanent 
the 10% tax bracket for low-income families. I am supporting the Tanner 
substitute because it, unlike the underlying bill, is paid for and does 
not drive our country deeper into debt.
  The Tanner substitute, like H.R. 4275, makes permanent the change in 
our lowest tax bracket from 15% to 10%, and exempts from taxation the 
first $7,000 for single taxpayers and $14,000 for married couples. The 
Tanner substitute, however, requires that the funds needed to pay the 
tax cut do not come from Social Security and Medicare trust funds. 
Passing the Tanner substitute would help low-income families protect 
Social Security and Medicare while also helping eliminate the need to 
borrow from foreign banks to fund the federal government.
  Mr. Speaker, today the national debt is the largest in history. 
Americans now collectively owe more than $7 trillion. That is $24,304 
for every man, woman, and child. We have borrowed an additional $280 
billion so far this year. The Majority would now like to borrow another 
$218 billion with the passage of this bill.
  Here we have another tax cut that is not being paid for, even as the 
Bush Administration and the leadership of this Congress spend more than 
the American government has ever spent on homeland security and on all 
the other expenses of running the government--especially the huge costs 
of the war in, and occupation of, Iraq. The resultant borrowing places 
the burden of repaying our debts on our children.
  I want the people of this country to realize that, right now, we owe 
collectively, in hard money, about $4 trillion to foreign countries. We 
owe Japan $607 billion; China (including Hong Kong) $205 billion; the 
U.K. $137 billion; Taiwan, $50 billion; Germany, $45 billion; OPEC 
countries, $43 billion; Switzerland, $41 billion; Korea, $37 billion; 
Mexico, $32 billion; Luxembourg, $26 billion; Canada, $25 billion--the 
list goes on and on.
  More tax cuts without offsets will not only jeopardize critical 
public services now, but they will also hurt Americans well into the 
future. Massive deficits now create large debt and will create high 
interest payments that will crowd out spending on public investments 
for future generations. Moreover, these deep deficits threaten to 
increase interest rates in the future--making it harder for Americans 
to buy homes and afford higher education and making it harder for 
businesses to raise capital.
  The President is pretending that we can have war without sacrifice. 
Eventually, someone has to pay. I believe Chairman Greenspan's recent 
comments are appropriate: ``Our fiscal prospects are, in my judgment, a 
significant obstacle to long-term stability because the budget deficit 
is not readily subject to correction by market forces that stabilize 
other imbalances. The free lunch has still to be invented.''
  Now, we, all of us Americans, have to pay interest on the debt. We 
are literally squandering the wealth of this country by not paying for 
our tax cuts. The underlying bill is a good idea--keeping the lowest 
tax bracket at 10% helps all taxpayers equally. Unfortunately, by not 
paying for the tax cut, we are contributing to a far greater problem--
the breathtaking fiscal irresponsibility that is going on here in this 
town.

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