[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 2919-2920]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  ELIMINATION OF MARRIAGE TAX PENALTY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Weller) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WELLER. Mr. Speaker, I represent a very diverse district. I 
represent part of the City of Chicago in the south suburbs and Cook and 
Will Counties. And when one represents a diverse district of city and 
suburbs and country, he listens, he listens for common concerns and 
common ideas as he works to represent those communities.
  And I find one very clear message from the city dwellers and the 
suburbanites and the farm folk in the district I have the privilege of 
representing, and that is that the folks back home want those of us who 
have the privilege in the Congress to work together to solve the 
challenges that we face and to put forward real solutions.
  I am proud in the last 4 years this Congress has responded to that 
request of finding solutions. And we have some real accomplishments we 
can all be proud of, accomplishments such as balancing the budget for 
the first time in 28 years, a balanced budget that is now projected to 
generate an expected $2.7 trillion surplus of extra tax revenue; a 
middle-class tax cut, the first middle-class tax cut in 16 years that 
is now giving three million children a $500 per child tax credit back 
home in Illinois; welfare reform, the first welfare reform in a 
generation that has lowered the welfare roles in Illinois by 28 
percent; and IRS reforms, taming the tax collector, the first IRS 
reforms ever that now shift the burden of proof so that a taxpayer is 
innocent until proven guilty. That is all thanks to this Congress.
  The question often asked is, those are pretty good accomplishments, 
but what are we going to do next? Well, I was home this past week 
during the President's Day district work period listening to the folks 
back home. They told me some things. They tell me they want good 
schools. They tell me they

[[Page 2920]]

want low taxes. They tell me that they want a secure retirement. And 
that is really what the agenda of the Republican Congress is. Our 
agenda is to help our schools and make sure that we put more dollars 
into the classroom, dollars that are determined how they are spent by 
local school boards and local teachers and local parents.
  Our agenda is to lower the tax burden on the middle class and also to 
secure retirement by ensuring that our Social Security system is sound 
and rewarding savings for retirement.
  But we also have an another challenge that faces us, and it is really 
an opportunity, and that is the opportunity that comes from this 
Congress's probably greatest accomplishment, the first balanced budget 
in 28 years.
  We are now expected to see a $2.7 trillion surplus, a balanced budget 
bonus, an overpayment of tax revenue, extra money that is burning a 
hole in the pockets here in Washington. And that is really what the 
debate will be, what do we do with that surplus? Some want to spend it 
all. Others want to do other things.
  The President says we should use 62 percent of the surplus for saving 
Social Security and the rest we should spend on new government 
programs. We on the Republican side say that we agree that 62 percent 
should go to Social Security.
  Last year, we proposed 90 percent so we could do at least 62 percent. 
But we also want to give the rest back and pay down the national debt 
and lower the tax burden, particularly for middle-class working 
families.
  Our philosophy is fairly simple. We believe that taxpayers back home 
in Illinois and back home in America can better spend their hard-earned 
dollars and their hard-earned salary better back home than we can for 
them in Washington. That is why we want to give back part of the 
surplus to pay off the national debt and to lower the tax burden at the 
same time we save Social Security.
  Some say, gee, is there really a need to lower the tax burden on 
families? Let me share some statistics here. The tax burden on American 
families is the highest in history, in fact, the highest in peacetime 
history. In fact, 40 percent of the average Illinois family's income 
today goes to government at one level, local, State, and Federal taxes. 
Twenty-one percent of our gross domestic product goes to the Federal 
Government in taxes. And, since 1992, the amount of taxes collected 
from individuals has gone up 63 percent.
  Clearly, that tax burden is too high, and we need to find ways to 
help the middle class by lowering the tax burden so they can keep more 
of what they earn.
  I believe that as we look for ways to lower the tax burden on middle-
class families that our focus should be on simplifying the Tax Code and 
bringing fairness to the Tax Code and also eliminating discrimination 
in the Tax Code. And as we look for those priorities and how best to 
simplify the Tax Code and eliminate discrimination in the Tax Code, I 
believe that we should focus on the most discriminating sequence of our 
Tax Code today, and that is the discrimination in the Code that says 
that 21 million married working couples pay, on average, $1,400 more in 
higher taxes just because they are married.
  Under our Tax Code, if they get married they pay more than if they 
stay single; and that is just wrong. And I think it is not right and it 
is not fair that 21 million married working couples pay, on average, 
$1,400 more in higher taxes just because they are married.
  In the south suburbs of Chicago, $1,400 is one year's tuition at 
Joliet Junior College. It is 3 months of day care at a local child-care 
center. It is 6 months worth of car payments. It is a washer and a 
dryer for a family. It is real money for real people.
  I am proud to report to the House today that almost 230 Members, a 
bipartisan majority of this House, has joined as cosponsors of the 
Marriage Tax Elimination Act, which would eliminate discrimination in 
the Tax Code and eliminate the marriage penalty.
  As we work to simplify the Tax Code, as we work to lower the tax 
burden, I hope we can make elimination of the marriage tax penalty our 
number-one priority.

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