[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 160 (Wednesday, December 14, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2532-E2533]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         H.R. 4297, THE TAX RELIEF EXTENSION RECONCILIATION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. DENNIS MOORE

                               of kansas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, December 8, 2005

  Mr. MOORE of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my 
opposition to H.R. 4297, the FY05 tax reconciliation bill.
  I do not oppose tax cuts, and in a more stable fiscal climate I could 
support reduced tax rates for capital gains and dividend income. What I 
do oppose is borrowing money to pay for tax cuts, and particularly for 
tax cuts that do not expire for another three years.
  In 2001, I was one of only 28 House Democrats to vote for President's 
Bush's 2001 tax cuts that reduced marginal income tax rates. Since 
2001, however, our country's fiscal condition has dramatically reversed 
course. In 2001, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicted that 
the 10-year budget surplus would be $5.6 trillion. That projected 10-
year surplus of $5.6 trillion has deteriorated into a projected $3.9 
trillion deficit during the same period. In FY2005, the Federal 
Government ran a budget deficit of $319 billion, the third largest 
deficit in our Nation's history.
  Further, on February 17, 2004, the national debt of the United States 
exceeded $7 trillion for the first time in our country's history. On 
October 21, 2005, the national debt of the United States exceeded $8 
trillion for the first time in our country's history. That is an 
increase of $1 trillion in our national debt over the last 2 years. It 
took our country 193 years, from 1787 to 1980, to rack up $1 trillion 
in debt, and just under two years, from 2004-2005, to match that level 
of borrowing.
  An $8 trillion national debt comes down to nearly $27,000 per person 
in our country, and that is simply unacceptable. The first rule of 
holes is that when you're in a hole and you don't want to go deeper, 
stop digging. It is now past time that we stop digging our country 
deeper and deeper into debt, leaving our

[[Page E2533]]

children and grandchildren to pay a steep price for the deficits and 
debt we are adding to today.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4297 extends several tax relief measures, including 
reduced rates for capital gains and dividend income, that I support and 
would vote for in a balanced, revenue neutral measure. I support: the 
saver's credit; small business and brownfields expensing relief; the 
Work Opportunity Tax Credit; the research and experimentation credit; 
deductions for higher education and classroom expenses; the exclusion 
for active financing income; and 15-year depreciation rates for 
restaurant equipment and improvements to leased property. 
Unfortunately, the Joint Tax Committee estimates that H.R. 4297 will 
cost $56.1 billion over the next five years, and the CBO estimates that 
extending the dividend and capital gains tax reductions alone would 
cost approximately $160 billion from FY2008 to FY2015.
  Further, unlike the Senate tax reconciliation bill, the House version 
of this legislation does not address what is arguably the most 
significant looming tax concern for middle-class American families, 
namely the growing number of Americans who are forced to pay the 
alternative minimum tax (AMT). While reduced rates for capital gains 
and dividend income will not expire for another three years, AMT relief 
is scheduled to expire in less than one month, at the end of this year.
  If AMT relief is allowed to lapse, the number of taxpayers subject to 
the AMT will increase from 3 million in 2004 to 21 million in 2006. The 
Congressional Budget Office estimates that extending AMT relief and 
indexing it for inflation would reduce federal revenue by $191 billion 
over the next five years. This is an immediate problem that Congress 
and the Administration need to work together to fix in a responsible, 
bipartisan way, before millions of Americans are hit with large, 
unexpected tax increases.
  Mr. Speaker, I will continue to work with my colleagues in both 
parties to advance commonsense, bipartisan approaches to solving our 
country's fiscal problems. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the 
aisle to act as soon as possible, in a fiscally sound way, to prevent 
serious consequences for current and future generations.

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