[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 2295-2296]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  A FAIR AND SIMPLE PLAN TO CUT TAXES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Knollenberg) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KNOLLENBERG. Mr. Speaker, the American people are overtaxed, and 
it is time for Congress and the President to let them keep more of 
their hard-earned money.
  This year, Federal taxes will represent 22 percent of the Gross 
Domestic Product. This means that the Federal tax burden is at an all-
time high. With the Federal Government projected to run a budget 
surplus of $2.6 trillion over the next 10 years, there is no excuse for 
taxing the American people at a higher rate than was necessary to win 
World War II.
  On the opening day of the 106th Congress, I introduced a bill that 
cuts Federal income taxes by 10 percent across

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the board. This proposal is the simplest and the fairest way to provide 
the American people with the tax relief that they deserve.
  Instead of picking winners and losers among overtaxed Americans, this 
proposal increases the take-home pay of everyone who pays Federal 
income taxes.
  We should not require taxpayers to engage in a government-preferred 
activity or force them to jump through multiple hoops in order to keep 
more of their own money. A broad-based tax cut avoids adding further 
complexity to the Tax Code and gives all American workers the relief 
that they need.
  In recent years, efforts to provide the American people with 
significant tax relief has been derailed by the contention that cutting 
taxes would hurt Social Security. This has always been a shaky 
argument, but it does not even have a leg to stand on today. Here is 
some arithmetic or numbers to keep in mind.
  A 10 percent across-the-board tax cut would cost the Federal 
Government $743 billion over a 10-year period. This means that more 
than $1.8 trillion of the $2.6 trillion budget surplus that the Federal 
Government will run over the same time span would be available to 
strengthen Social Security.
  When looking at these numbers, it becomes clear that cutting taxes 
and securing the future of Social Security are not mutually exclusive 
goals. We can do both and still have some money left over to invest in 
education and strengthen our national defense.
  Excessive taxation is making it harder for middle-income families to 
get ahead. When adding State and local income taxes, or just taxes 
period to the Federal tax bite, the average American family ends up 
paying more in taxes than it is paying or spending on housing, food and 
shelter.
  A 10 percent across-the-board income tax cut would save this average 
family approximately $1,000 per year. This is money that could be saved 
for a down payment on a home or used to pay for college tuition or put 
aside for retirement.
  A broad tax cut like the across-the-board tax cut that I am promoting 
today is best for the American economy as a whole. It will increase 
economic activity across the widest number of individuals, thus 
creating jobs, greater financial security, and giving every American a 
bigger piece of the pie. However Americans choose to spend their own 
money, I am confident that it would be put to better use by the family 
who earned it than by the Washington bureaucrat who yearns for it.
  As the debate over how to use the budget surplus heats up, the 
protectors of big government will scream bloody murder about any plan 
to return some of the windfall to the American people. To them I ask 
simply, if we cannot cut taxes when the economy is strong, the Federal 
Government is in the black, and taxes are at an all-time high, when can 
we?
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support a 10 percent across-the-
board tax cut.

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