[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 97 (Wednesday, July 14, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H5660]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             TAX RELIEF IS WORKING TO STIMULATE THE ECONOMY

  (Mr. PORTMAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. Speaker, there has been a lot of discussion on this 
floor over the past year about the tax relief we passed last year for 
the American people, for our families, small businesses and investors. 
In fact, even this morning I heard again how we could not afford this 
tax relief, how it was wrong, how we should not have done it. I have 
heard again and again how it has robbed our Federal Treasury.
  It should be interesting to note, then, that we have just learned 
that the tax receipts coming into our government this year are higher 
than they were before we put these tax cuts in place. Why? Because the 
tax relief is working to stimulate the economy and increase revenue. 
More people are working. Salaries are higher. Corporate revenues are 
higher. This means the economy is strong. Robust job growth has led to 
more taxpayers and more taxable income. Those are facts. Tax 
collections this year are $48 billion higher than last year. In June 
our receipts were 11 percent higher than our receipts of June a year 
ago.
  Earlier on the floor, one of my colleagues said, Gee, the other side 
is talking about how the economy is good. They are using statistics.
  Well, yes, we are using statistics because that is what the American 
people care about is how their jobs are doing, how the job growth is 
coming. Nationwide more than 1.5 million jobs have been created in the 
past 10 months. This means that we are creating not just jobs but good 
jobs. The pessimistic view is simply wrong. Real wages are up 11 
percent since December of 2000. Payroll tax revenues are up. We are 
creating real jobs, good jobs. This will continue because of the tax 
relief.

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