[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 194 (Friday, December 16, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H9909-H9914]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
{time} 1420
FAIRTAX
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 5, 2011, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Woodall) is recognized
for the remainder of the time.
Mr. WOODALL. Mr. Speaker, I very much appreciate the time.
I want to get to tax policy here in just a moment, but I want to take
just a few minutes, having just passed the appropriations bill for
fiscal year 2012, to talk about how long that's been.
Now, Mr. Speaker, I know you have been a proponent of regular order
since you came to this body. But as I went back and looked to see when
was the last time the House was able to operate not under a continuing
resolution but under a regular appropriations process, Mr. Speaker,
it's been since December of 2009. December of 2009 is when we last
passed an appropriations bill.
Now granted appropriations bills come in all sorts and sizes. The one
we're dealing with today came in the large size. We'll call that the
jumbo size. I know the minority whip shares my passion for that. My
hope is we will be able to get to regular order next year and go
through each appropriations bill one by one by one.
But what I say to you, Mr. Speaker, is that I came to this body a
year ago to make a difference, and I wanted to make all the difference
last January, I'll be honest with you. And when I couldn't do it all in
January, I hoped that we could do it all in February. When we couldn't
do it all in February, I hoped we could do it all in March. And, of
course, we were able to pass the budget here in the House, the budget
that took the first step towards reforming entitlements that we've seen
come out of this body since I would argue Lyndon Johnson began these
programs in the 1960s. But we have begun to make a difference.
As I look at this stack of papers here that represent the spending,
the appropriations process, for 2012, Mr. Speaker, it's the first time
in 2 years we've had that. Of course, over a thousand days since the
Senate has been able to pass a budget. We have made progress. As 2011
comes to a close, I hope we can celebrate some of those successes along
the way.
Because in terms of real spending, Mr. Speaker, in this document what
we see is for the second year in a row, the first time since World War
II, two consecutive years, Mr. Speaker, with this leadership team and
this appropriations committee and this bipartisan House, we've been
able to reduce Federal discretionary spending--$95 billion.
A lot of folks say, well, Rob, is that going to be funny math? Is
that going to be just some items but not all
[[Page H9910]]
items? As you know, Mr. Speaker, that's everything. That's the regular
appropriations process, that's the so-called emergency spending, that's
the war spending, what they call the OCO account. That's everything.
And we've brought it down $95 billion in just 1 year, just the 1 year
you and I have been here, Mr. Speaker.
But it can't all be done in appropriations bills, Mr. Speaker, you
know. Only about a third of all of the money that goes out the door
here in Washington, D.C., goes out the door through this process that
we did today, the appropriations process. The rest of it goes out
through mandatory spending programs--Medicare, Medicaid, Social
Security, interest on the national debt--those mandatory spending
programs.
In fact, as you know, Mr. Speaker, we could zero out everything else.
We could decide there will be no Congress, there will be no White
House, there will be no FBI, there will be no Army, there will be no
Navy, no Marine Corps, no Coast Guard, no Air Force, no parks, no
Environmental Protection Agency, no Education Department, no nothing.
We could zero out absolutely everything that we fund through the
appropriations process and the budget still wouldn't be balanced. Not
cutting it. Zeroing it out. And we still couldn't balance the budget
just on appropriations bills alone.
There's two sides of every budget balancing operation, Mr. Speaker,
as you know. There's the spending side, and there's the revenue side. I
want to talk about the revenue side here for just a minute.
I put up a poster here, Mr. Speaker. You can't see it from where you
sit. It says H.R. 25, the FairTax. I'm going to leave it up here the
whole half hour, Mr. Speaker, because H.R. 25, named the FairTax, is
the only tax bill in Congress, the only piece of legislation on either
the House side or the Senate side that goes into the Tax Code and says
every exception, exemption, exclusion, special carve-outs, special
favor, anything that gives you a break over your neighbor, your company
an advantage over the one next door, all of those tax breaks, special
exceptions, loopholes--gone.
It's the only bill in either the House or the Senate that does it.
But that's not even the good news, Mr. Speaker. The good news is it's
also the most popular fundamental tax bill in either the House or
Senate as well. That's right. More Members of this body have
cosponsored the FairTax than any other fundamental tax reform
legislation that's been introduced here. And more United States
Senators in the other body have cosponsored their version of the
FairTax than any other fundamental tax reform proposal in the Senate.
Now, why is that important? Why is it important to end all the
loopholes?
Well, Mr. Speaker, the chart I have here is the cost of tax
expenditures. Now tax expenditures--I've got to tell you that's a tough
word in conservative circles because the government doesn't actually
have any money. As you know, Mr. Speaker, every nickel that gets spent
in Washington, D.C., got sucked into Washington, D.C., from the
heartland from back in my district in Georgia, from back in your
district, from somebody's family kitchen table. Every nickel that gets
spent in Washington got sucked up here to Washington, D.C.
Oftentimes when we talk about taxes and we talk about giving people
their money back, that's not spending, that's giving people their own
hard-earned money back.
Today, Mr. Speaker, when we have $15 trillion in national debt, when
the amount of money we owe has eclipsed the entire productive capacity
of America for an entire year, our entire annual GDP, the question now
is when you have a tax break, when you agree to let a loophole into the
Tax Code and let somebody else pay less, what happens? Well, what
happens is that we then borrow more.
That's a new debate, Mr. Speaker, because so often we can talk about
tax cuts like the capital gains tax cut, like interest in dividends. We
can talk about tax cuts that stimulate the economy, tax cuts that we
think will help the economy grow faster and bring more revenue in; but
all tax cuts aren't like that. Some tax cuts are just free money that
you're giving away to people. Instead of passing a bill that says, I
hereby give you a hundred dollars, it makes Congress feel better to
pass a bill that says, I hereby tax you a hundred dollars less. I'm
going to bill your neighbors for it, and I'm going to bill your kids
for it, and I'm going to bill your grandkids for it, but I'm going to
tax you a hundred dollars less.
It's time, Mr. Speaker, for us as conservatives to be honest about
where the Tax Code takes this country when we fill it full of loopholes
and exemptions, because I will tell you, and you know better than most,
Mr. Speaker, the art of the loophole is a time-honored Washington
tradition.
{time} 1430
It's not something that has been perfected by Republicans. It's not
something that has been perfected by Democrats. It's not even something
that was perfected by the Whigs, Mr. Speaker. It's been around as long
as taxes have been around.
And the folks who work in this town who try to manipulate the Tax
Code have been around just as long as well.
But let's look at this. Let's look at what's happening in 2012, just
in 2012. The annual budget deficit for 2012, Mr. Speaker, is projected
by the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Congressional Research
Service to be $1.1 trillion and change. It's a $1.1 trillion projected
budget deficit for 2012.
How much money do you think we've carved out in loopholes and
exceptions and exemptions and carve-outs and deductions and credit? How
much money do you think we've carved out? $1.065 trillion. That's a
powerful message, Mr. Speaker. We could balance the budget this year if
we eliminated every single tax break in the U.S. Tax Code.
Now, that's a debate worth having.
I don't want to eliminate every single deduction in the U.S. Tax
Code, every single credit in the U.S. Tax Code. Every credit in the
U.S. Tax Code is not created equally. Every deduction in the U.S. Tax
Code is not created equally. There are some that help move this economy
forward, and there are some that don't. That's the debate that we have,
and this is the end result of it.
What if we started over from scratch, Mr. Speaker? What if we started
over from scratch with a bill like the FairTax--with something that
ends all loopholes by starting a Tax Code that has no loopholes, that
ends the loopholes by starting a Tax Code that has no loopholes?
So often we talk about reforming the Tax Code as if we're stuck with
the Tax Code that we've got. Are we? I tell you we're not. That's what
this body does. This body could zero out the entire Tax Code and start
again with a blank sheet of paper tomorrow. We have that ability; we
have that authority; and we ought to use it.
If we used it today--again, just to understand the magnitude of the
exceptions and exemptions in the Tax Code, when you go and you say,
Golly, I'm in the 15 percent bracket; I'm in the 25 percent bracket;
I'm in the 10 percent bracket--when you talk about those things, the
exceptions and exemptions total over $1 trillion in 2012 alone.
Now, where are those? Where are those exceptions and exemptions
going, Mr. Speaker? This next chart quantifies those.
Number one, a list of exceptions and exemptions: exclusion of
employer contributions for medical insurance premiums and medical care,
$609 billion.
Hear that, Mr. Speaker. Half of all the money that's included in
loopholes, exemptions, exceptions, exclusions, carve-outs in the United
States Tax Code goes to employers to subsidize their purchases of
health insurance for their employees.
Candidly, Mr. Speaker, I hear from employees day after day after day,
and they say, Rob, how come I don't get those same tax breaks to
purchase my own insurance? Why am I held captive--captive--by my
employer? Since when did my employer get entrusted to make the best
health decisions for me and my family?
I will tell you that this provision that originated in World War II,
with wage controls here in Congress, has led to so many of the third-
party payer problems, the health insurance inflation challenges, that
we have in this country today.
$609 billion is what you, Mr. Speaker, and your family and every
other American family has to pay more because we've chosen to subsidize
the business
[[Page H9911]]
purchase of health insurance, which has the secondary and tertiary
effects of trapping you in the job that you have because you can't get
insurance at your next job; that has the effect of trapping you with
the insurance policy that you have because your employer only offers
one policy; that has the effect of your having a third-party payer so
that it insulates you from the true cost of health care.
Trouble after trouble after trouble with the American health care
system comes from the United States Tax Code, Mr. Speaker--and we can
do better.
$357 billion is the deductibility of mortgage insurance on owner-
occupied homes. It's the mortgage insurance deduction--again, a
deduction that millions of American families take advantage of. It's a
deduction that, arguably, has a tremendous effect on the real estate
market and on our real estate agents and on our construction
companies--on and on and on. There are things tied into the
deductibility of mortgage insurance.
I remember once upon a time, Mr. Speaker, I was listening to an
elected official talk. He had some folks in his office, and they said,
We have to, have to, have to have the deductibility of mortgage
insurance because the only reason we're able to sell real estate in
this country is that folks are able to deduct their interest, and that
makes a difference.
This elected official said, Well, how about if we double interest
rates? Is that going to help us sell more homes?--because it'll
certainly help folks deduct more interest. The answer was no.
What we need are low interest rates to sell homes. We have low
interest rates in this country today, but it's one of those things
that, whether Republicans or Democrats, folks have agreed that we want
to subsidize interest payments for folks who own homes. There is no
such subsidy program for folks who rent.
Is there a good reason for that? Maybe there is. Certainly, the
argument has been made time and time again, but it's something that we
have chosen to do in this country, Mr. Speaker.
I don't know that, even for those Americans who defend this deduction
to their dying breaths, do they know that it comprises a full third of
the value of every deduction, exemption, exclusion that exists in the
United States Tax Code, because it does--half of the deductions and
exclusions come in from the mortgage interest deduction, others from
the medical insurance and premium deductions for employers.
Finally, of the biggest of our deductions and exemptions is the
deduction for 401(k) plans, which is down here at the bottom, of $356
billion--again, deducting money that we're saving, right?--because the
power to tax is the power to destroy, Mr. Speaker--you know that--time
and time again as you advocate for lower taxes, because what we tax
today is income and what income is is a measure of your productivity,
and what we need in today's economy is more productivity, not less
productivity. The power to tax is the power to destroy.
So rather than taxing savings--because we don't have enough
retirement savings happening in this country, because we don't have
enough thrifts happening in this country--we've given folks a tax break
to encourage them to save.
Is that a laudable public goal, Mr. Speaker? I'm sure it is. I'm sure
that it is.
We need more Americans to take saving for their retirement more
seriously. The question is, What's the best way to get that done? Is it
the United States Tax Code? But does America know that that's what's
happening today, that today $356 billion of tax revenue is forgone in
the name of encouraging retirement savings?
It's a debate that has to happen in Washington, D.C.--these are the
big ones--because so often we argue about things as if it's the little
ones that find the dollar. It's not the little ones that find the
dollar; it's the little ones that find the headlines. You don't find
headlines about the mortgage interest deduction or the employer health
insurance deduction. You find headlines about the ``bridge to nowhere''
and how in the world that got in the Transportation bill. But
understand that this is big business.
Now, I'm not here to pick on lobbyists, Mr. Speaker. I think
lobbyists perform an important role in this town. I can't be an expert
on every issue, and I can't hire staff. I've got Alex Poirot on my
staff down here today. He knows a lot about a lot, but he can't know
everything about everything. So, when I need more information, I will
go to folks involved in the industry. We call those folks
``lobbyists.''
I'll tell you, the best lobbyists in the world are the ones who fly
up from back home--the teachers in your community, the caretakers in
your community, the physicians in your community. Those members of your
community who come up here to talk about their issues are the best
lobbyists in town, but there are firms up here that have lobbyists as
well.
{time} 1440
There is a line in ``The Distinguished Gentleman.'' Mr. Speaker, I'm
going to date myself by going back to when Eddie Murphy's movies were
funny, back in the day. ``The Distinguished Gentleman'' was a tale of a
fellow who got elected to Congress by accident. And he was going along
with the process, and he walked up to a powerful committee chairman.
And the committee chairman said, How do you feel about sugar subsidies?
Eddie Murphy, being Eddie Murphy and a new Congressman said, Well, Mr.
Chairman, how should I feel about sugar subsidies? And the chairman
said, It doesn't matter, because if you support sugar subsidies, we're
going to get you money from the confectioners and the bakers. And if
you oppose sugar subsidies, we're going to get your money from the cane
growers and the beet growers.
There are folks on every side of the issue in this town. So whenever
there's an issue that's a contentious issue, you can call in one side,
you can call in the other, and you can hear both sides of the argument.
Folks who are experts, folks who have been working on these issues for
decade after decade after decade. Well, when the Federal tax bill for
America's businesses is $10 billion, it doesn't take much of an
investment in lobbying for special exemptions in the Tax Code to make
that happen.
Now let me go back and look at corporate income taxes over time. I'm
in the camp that tells you, corporations don't pay taxes, Mr. Speaker.
Corporations do not pay taxes. Consumers pay taxes. I'm from Atlanta.
If you add a tax on the Coca-Cola Company, what do you think is going
to happen? They're going to raise the price of Coca-Cola. Right? That's
what happens every single time that--we already have a competitive
market. Coke and Pepsi are competing in a cutthroat beverage market out
there today. They're already suppressing their prices as much as they
can. There is only one taxpayer in America, and it is the American
consumer. When we tax businesses, we just make the businesses the tax
collector, and they raise their prices. I end up paying the tax when I
buy the goods. They collect those taxes, and pass them on.
But according to our friends at Citizens for Tax Justice--and you are
not going to hear me quoting Citizens for Tax Justice very often, Mr.
Speaker, because we don't agree a lot. But they pay a lot of attention
to how much money is being spent in this town to manipulate the Tax
Code. They say $475 million is being spent to manipulate the Tax Code
in this town. Now, folks, it's our fault. We created the Tax Code. I
don't blame the IRS for the way the Tax Code works. Congress created
the Tax Code. Congress tells the IRS what to do. So for businesses to
spend $475 million, for individuals to pay folks to come and lobby for
the United States Tax Code, that makes sense. Why do you rob banks?
Because that's where the money is. Why do you lobby the Tax Code?
Because that's where the money is--not in these appropriations bills
that we're doing today, but in the Tax Code.
Trillions and trillions and trillions of dollars in revenue, Mr.
Speaker. And with the stroke of a pen, a loophole, an exception,
exemption hidden somewhere in what is now 76,000 pages of code, you can
save money for your client. You can get a break that your competitor
doesn't get. And who ends up paying that bill? Every other American
family. And if we don't pay that
[[Page H9912]]
bill today, we end up borrowing that money, and our kids pay the bill,
and our grandkids pay the bill for years and years and years to come.
This isn't rocket science, Mr. Speaker. This is Economics 101. I do
it when I go to speak to high school classes. I say, you know, I've got
a job in my congressional office. You're going to get to serve your
neighbors. You're going to get to serve your country. It is going to be
a wonderful thing. And I pay $10 an hour. Who wants to come? All the
hands go up around the room. Then I say, But I'm going to have to put a
tax on that because we have bills to pay in this country. So I am going
to put a $9 an hour tax on that, but you will still be able to take
home that last dollar. Who wants to come work 80 hours a week for me
for $1 an hour? And all the hands go down, Mr. Speaker. That's
economics 101. There is a sweet spot here. They called it the Laffer
curve in the 1980s. There's a sweet spot where you can raise tax rates
and continue to raise income for the government--tax receipts, and if
you exceed that rate, you begin to shrink tax receipts for the
government.
I remember a story, Mr. Speaker, this was over on the Senate side, a
Senator from Washington State who ran the Finance Committee at the
time. And the question was, What would happen if we raised taxes to 100
percent on all Americans who make over $250,000 a year? What would
happen? What would happen if we raised taxes on all Americans making
over $250,000 a year to 100 percent? Well, he asked that question to
the tax scoring committee, and folks got excited, sent back a good
message, and said, Oh, golly, if we did that, we'd raise this big pot
of money to help pay Federal bills. Big pot of money.
Well, come on, Mr. Speaker, you tell me, what would happen if we
raised taxes on you to 100 percent? Well, I tell you, you would quit
coming to work. You have got a heart for service. But you also have
bills to pay. Folks would adjust their behavior. No one would make over
$250,000 a year anymore.
The power to tax is the power to destroy. When you tax at 100
percent, you destroy 100 percent of all that economic production. You
know what's sad, as I look at this Economics 101 chart, Mr. Speaker?
It's that it's America that has this disastrous, destructive,
detrimental Tax Code. The former Soviet Bloc countries, Mr. Speaker,
they have flat taxes. They have consumption taxes. They started with a
blank slate after the fall of the Soviet Union, and they created tax
codes that work. They rejected the communist system and said, What if
we have a flat tax on everything that's easy to pay?
Mr. Speaker, I know we have to have taxes in this country, and I
don't mind paying them. I don't mind paying them. I love the freedom
that we have in this country, and I know freedom isn't free. What I
don't like, Mr. Speaker, is having to pay someone to help me pay my
taxes--I'm a smart guy--to have to pay someone to help me pay my taxes.
If we're going to collect taxes from folks, it ought to be easy, and
the more complicated we make it, the less revenue we collect. And who
has proven that point? The former Soviet Bloc countries. That's where
we look for economic vibrance today, Mr. Speaker. That's where we look
for Tax Code success today. Country after country after country threw
out their old code, adopted a flat consumption tax, a flat income tax,
made it easy to pay, easy to comply with, and raised the revenues to
their national treasury. We could do that very same thing. There's a
sweet spot, and we are not in it.
Mr. Speaker, we sometimes get swept up in partisanship here in the
House. I know you avoid it. I try to avoid it. But sometimes it
happens. But when it comes to the issue of reforming the Tax Code, it's
not a partisan issue. I'll point to this quote from President Barack
Obama in a speech he was making on international tax policy reform. He
says, Our Tax Code is full of corporate loopholes that make it
perfectly legal for companies to avoid paying their fair share. Now his
take on it is a little different from mine.
You know, the U.S. Tax Code defines what folks have to do. I almost
think it's your patriotic duty to pay as little tax as you legally can.
Don't send your extra money up here. Whoever is encouraging you to do
that, don't do it. Keep as much of your own money as you can because I
promise you, you're going to spend it better than I will.
{time} 1450
It's not from lack of trying. It's not from lack of trying. Keep your
own money in your pocket; send as little as you legally can.
But, yes, the Tax Code has been warped over time to make it very
difficult to tell what is someone's fair share. What is their fair
share?
Now, the top 10 percent of all income earners in this country, Mr.
Speaker, pay 60 percent of all of the income taxes. The top 10 percent
pay 60 percent of all the income taxes. The top 50 percent pay 100
percent of all the income taxes. About half of America today pays no
income taxes whatsoever. In fact, a growing amount of American families
are actually receiving money from the Tax Code instead of paying money
into the Tax Code. That's not what the Tax Code is for.
But on both sides of the aisle, we agree that this Tax Code isn't
working. The President thinks it isn't working because it allows folks
to pay nothing, and that's not fair. I'd tell you it's not working
because it allows one company to pay one amount and its neighbor
company to have to pay twice that amount, and that's not fair. Equity
is what's fair. And I'll tell you, Tax Code for corporations, it
shouldn't go from the 30s down to the 20s. It shouldn't go from the 30s
down to the teens. It should go from the 30s down to zero, Mr. Speaker,
to zero because businesses don't pay taxes. Their consumers pay taxes.
I pay taxes when I shop at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart's not paying the tax.
They're raising the price on the good, and I'm paying the tax and
you're paying the tax and every American family that shops there is
paying the tax.
So how do we get to something that defines our fair share? Well, Mr.
Speaker, that brings me to the heart of the FairTax. I don't like the
divisive games that are being played in America today, Mr. Speaker. I
don't know why it is that what we see in the media and what we
sometimes hear from the podiums is language designed to divide America.
I can't think of a single strength of this country, I can't think of a
single trait that makes this country great that is enhanced by dividing
America. That's why we always talk about the American Dream, Mr.
Speaker, something that unites us, something that brings all of our
disparate views and hopes and dreams together into one understanding of
what makes this country different from any other country on the planet.
Mr. Speaker, my idea of fair when I sit down with a blank sheet of
paper to try to design a brand new Tax Code for this country, fair
doesn't mean that we're going to try to ensure equal outcomes for every
American. Fair means we're going to start with a level playing field
for every American.
Have you ever been in a community, Mr. Speaker, and you see somebody
driving a brand-new Porsche and you wonder if they're paying their fair
share? Have you ever been walking past a clothing store, you and I
might be on our way down to the Goodwill or Salvation Army or T.J.Maxx
or to Marshall's and you see somebody walking into Brooks Brothers and
you wonder if they're paying their fair share?
You know, I remember growing up, I had a good friend who lived next
door. The family had everything--boats, lake houses, beach houses,
brand-new cars, fancy clothes. And when it came time to apply for
college aid, we both filled out our applications. I didn't get a penny
in Federal financial aid because I got a note back that said: Dear Sir,
Your family saved too much.
Your family saved too much.
My buddy next door--fancy cars, fancy houses, fancy clothes, he got
back a note that said: Congratulations, you qualify for a subsidized
college education.
You qualify for a subsidized college education.
Why? Because in all of these flush years that your family has had,
you spent it all. So now in your time of need, you have nothing and you
qualify for a bonus.
Mr. Speaker, that is not anything that makes this country great. What
makes this country great is people being able to make their own choices
about how they're going to live their life and the Federal Government
doesn't bail them out.
[[Page H9913]]
Mr. Speaker, you and I weren't here when the bailouts came down the
pipe, but I guarantee you that we would've both voted ``no.'' We would
have both voted ``no'' for every penny of bailout money that came down
the pipe because the American Government is not supposed to be about
bailing out anybody. The America Government is supposed to be about
protecting the freedom of the American people. And that includes, Mr.
Speaker, freedom to fail. Freedom to fail.
You get to make the choices you want to make about your life, but you
also have to bear the consequences. If you want to take great risks, if
you have great success, you benefit from that. And if you have great
failure, you pay the price for that. We cannot insulate people, Mr.
Speaker, from the consequences of their actions. But over and over
again, that's what the Tax Code does.
Oh, if you lose money, we want to protect you. If you make money, we
want to punish you. I don't get that. I don't understand that. Fairness
for me is a level playing field for opportunity, not a level playing
field for outcomes.
Mr. Speaker, you know we talk every day in this Chamber about jobs;
and by talk, we act every day to promote an environment in this Nation
that grows jobs.
What do you think, Mr. Speaker, the American Tax Code does when a
multinational corporation is trying to decide where it's going to put
its next plant? What do you think it does? Because I can tell you, Mr.
Speaker, with absolute certainty that America has the highest corporate
tax rate of any nation on the planet. The number one highest.
So you're a business person, Mr. Speaker. Where do you want to
locate? Do you want to locate in a country that has ended all of the
loopholes, that has restored a fairness to the marketplace for a level
playing field, that allows our free enterprise system to work? Or do
you want to locate your business in the country that has the single
highest corporate tax rate in the world? Those are easy decisions, Mr.
Speaker, and companies are making them every day.
I talked to a CEO in my district about 6 months ago. He said, Rob,
I'm going to be leaving. He said, The government has made it hard to
pack up and leave. It's going to take me about 2 years, but I'm taking
every job that's in this district and I'm moving them to Switzerland
because it's just not worth doing business in America any more.
Mr. Speaker, we have the hardest working workforce on the planet. We
have the best education and transportation infrastructure on the
planet. We have the finest education system on the planet. Nobody,
nobody gives you more bang for your buck than the American worker, and
yet people are deciding to take those jobs overseas. Why? It's not the
American workers' fault, Mr. Speaker. It's our fault as we have crafted
a Tax Code that doesn't work, as we have crafted a regulatory structure
that doesn't work. But the good news is--and it's good news, Mr.
Speaker--that there's nothing wrong with America that this body can't
fix. Because I'll tell you, Mr. Speaker, there's nothing wrong with
America that this body didn't cause.
Government is not the solution to our problems, and many times
government is the creator of our problems. I do not want this body, no
matter how august, I do not want my 435 colleagues, no matter how well-
studied and well-intended, to decide for me how my life should be led.
That's never been what America was about. What America is about is
making your own decisions for yourself, making your own decisions for
your family, and knowing with absolute certainty, Mr. Speaker, absolute
certainty, that by the sweat of your brow, by the power of your ideas,
by the commitment that you make, you can make your tomorrow better than
your today.
I'll tell you, that's the American Dream, Mr. Speaker. It's not about
how much money you have in your pocket. It's not about what kind of
house you live in or what kind of car you drive. It's about that you
can decide today that you're going to take actions for yourself and for
your family and you're going to make tomorrow better.
Hope, Mr. Speaker. Hope is a priceless commodity. A priceless
commodity. And I fear we're not growing hope in this country, Mr.
Speaker, like we used to. I fear we are extinguishing the candle of
hope in this country. And not out of malice, Mr. Speaker. That's what
makes it so insidious. It's not out of malice. It's out of folks who
believe in their heart deep down inside that they're passing these
policies because they want to make America better.
{time} 1500
Mr. Speaker, America was better when Americans were running America.
The whole idea of a Republic isn't that we get to be king of this land
collectively. Our job is simple. It is to protect the freedom of
individuals back home so that individuals back home can make the
decisions that work best for them.
I have to tell you, Mr. Speaker, I come from the great State of
Georgia. We're a little conservative in our part of the world and proud
of it. If anyone is looking for a good conservative part of the world
to be a part of, I invite you to come down. We've got some good real
estate prices and a good job market. Come on down and be a part of what
we have, Mr. Speaker.
But I read a story about my friends in California. Now, I enjoy
visiting California. I don't want to move there. But it was a story
about the Teamsters unionizing marijuana growers in California because
medicinal marijuana is a big business out there in California these
days. And so they unionized the marijuana growers. So if you work hard,
apply yourself and join the union, you can be a junior marijuana grower
at $25 an hour I'm told. And if you really work hard and really apply
yourself, you can exceed where you start and become a senior marijuana
grower and get close to $35 an hour. That's what I'm hold.
Mr. Speaker, I think that's wonderful for those folks in California.
We're not bringing unionized marijuana-growing to the great State of
Georgia. I'm not trying to stop the folks in California from doing what
they want to do, but it's not going to come to our great State of
Georgia. And that's what makes this country great. We can choose for
ourselves, as individuals, as families, as communities, and as States
how it is that we want to live our life--but not with the United States
Tax Code.
Mr. Speaker, the Tax Code manipulates every facet of your life--every
facet of your life. If you're going to buy a green car, we're going to
pay you money. If you buy a car that burns too much gasoline, we're
going to charge you a fuel premium. If you receive your income from
dividends, we're going to give you a tax break. If you receive your
income from working hard on the line every day, you're going to pay
full freight. If you've had a great year this year, even if you hadn't
made another penny in the rest of your life, we're going to tax you
like you're rich. If you make a little bit this year, even though
you've made millions every other year for the rest of your life, we're
going to tax you like you're poor.
Mr. Speaker, we manipulate behavior in line item after line item
after line item in the United States Code; and, candidly, folks on both
sides of the aisle defend it. They defend it as if we're really smart
here. And I'll tell you, folks here work hard. I'm not down on
Congress. Folks here in Congress work hard. But they don't know
everything, nor can they, nor should they be burdened with that
responsibility. But that's what happens in the Tax Code: let me pass
this tax incentive, because if only we encourage this behavior, all of
America will be happier. And it's easy to hide things in the Tax Code.
Again, it's 75,000 pages.
Mr. Speaker, I encourage you to take a look at H.R. 25, again, the
single most widely cosponsored piece of fundamental tax reform
legislation in either the House or the Senate. And, in fact, it's the
most widely cosponsored piece of tax reform legislation in both
Chambers. It ends every loophole.
Mr. Speaker, you hear folks every day down here on the House floor: I
want you to end the loopholes for rich people; I want you to end the
loopholes for oil companies; I want you to end the loopholes for
Solyndra and the solar companies; I want you to end loophole, loophole,
loophole, loophole. Mr. Speaker, there's one bill in the House that
does it all, and its H.R. 25. No loopholes, no exemptions. We all
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pay the same. And it lets our free enterprise system work, Mr. Speaker.
We talk about creating jobs in this country, Mr. Speaker. We have to
do that. But our Tax Code is destroying jobs. We have to create new
jobs; but, Mr. Speaker, that's hard. Preserving the jobs we already
have has to be a part of that. And yet we run jobs overseas each and
every day in large part because of our Tax Code.
More importantly, Mr. Speaker, the FairTax is revenue neutral. So
many folks think about a conservative Republican like me liking every
tax cut he can get his hands on. I do. I'm a big proponent of leaving
more money in individuals' pockets. I will always believe the American
family will spend their own money better than we will spend it on their
behalf in Washington. Always. But, Mr. Speaker, there are bills to pay
in Washington. We do need to support our troops, we do need to defend
our homeland, and we do need to protect our border. And so the FairTax
brings in every penny of revenue that we bring in today. It's revenue
neutral.
In fact, given the bill that's in front of the Senate right now on
payroll taxes, we're actually going to bring in more revenue with the
FairTax than we bring in with the current system, but it's designed to
be revenue neutral because I know that we must pay taxes. But we
mustn't make it hard to do. That's a choice we've made in this body,
and it's the wrong one.
Mr. Speaker, take a look at H.R. 25, the FairTax. You can find out
all about it at www.fairtax.org, all the information, all the studies.
We started with a blank sheet of paper, we came up with a plan that
starts everyone on a level playing field. And so far, Mr. Speaker,
we've attracted enough cosponsors on both sides of the Hill to make it
the single most popular fundamental tax reform bill in Congress.
I thank you for giving me this time this afternoon to talk about it,
and I yield back the balance of my time.
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