[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 7]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 10257]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                    TELEPHONE EXCISE TAX REPEAL ACT

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                               speech of

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 25, 2000

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support today of H.R. 3916, the 
Telephone Excise Tax Repeal Act. This tax is a regressive tax that now 
collects over $5 billion each year from local and long distance phone 
calls. The working families of this country deserve lower taxes and 
this tax repeal will benefit them the most. This tax cut is also an 
issue that people care about. I wish to express my appreciation to 
Robert Fuchs, a constituent from the 10th District of Ohio, for 
bringing this issue to my attention. This tax cut is fair and is long 
overdue.
  The taxation of Americans is necessary to pay for the service of our 
government. The difficult question is how to structure these taxes. 
Regressive taxes, which levy taxes regardless of one's ability to pay, 
are not fair. The telephone tax is a regressive and unfair tax. 
Progressive taxes, which levy taxes proportional to one's ability to 
pay, are much fairer. The income tax is a type of progressive tax. I 
believe that the current budget surplus is large enough to consider 
repealing other regressive taxes that harrn lower-income Americans. As 
such, I remain committed to creating a more fair tax system.

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