[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3433]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      MAKING TAX RELIEF A REALITY

  (Mr. ARMEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, the American people are overtaxed. Americans 
work almost 3 hours every 8-hour workday just to pay their taxes. 
Federal taxes, State taxes, income taxes, sales taxes, utility taxes, 
death taxes and on and on.
  But what many folks do not realize is that they are paying way too 
much. The government is charging the American people more than it needs 
to pay its bills, an estimated $2.6 trillion over the next 10 years of 
tax overcharge. That is a whopping $27,000 per family, money those 
families could put forward to buy a home or pay for their children's 
college.
  Mr. Speaker, no one would tolerate a phone company or cable company 
that overcharged them and then refused to return the money. Indeed, we 
would all call upon the government for relief. Yet the government is 
overcharging the American taxpayer. It is time they knew about it.
  Mr. and Mrs. America, help is on the way. Today I will announce a 
national initiative designed to make tax relief a reality. I will be 
joined by many colleagues who, like myself, are committed to showing 
that Americans are overtaxed. We are united in the belief that we can 
both save Social Security and return a portion of the overcharge to 
Americans in the form of a tax cut.
  Mr. Speaker, that money does not belong to the government. It belongs 
to the American taxpayers. Americans earned it, Americans paid it, 
Americans deserve a refund. Return the tax overcharge, and the American 
people will be treated properly and fairly by this government.

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