[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 7]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 9835]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                               FUEL TAXES

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                        HON. DONALD A. MANZULLO

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 25, 2001

  Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, our country faces difficult energy policy 
issues. Every day, people fill their gas tanks in order to get to work 
and support their families. For every gallon of gasoline they buy, they 
pay federal, state and local sales and excise taxes. Current federal 
policy requires taxes to be paid on the income that pays for all of 
those sales and excise taxes. In my view, that is double, sometimes 
triple, taxation. That is wrong. Taxpaying Americans should not be 
required to pay income taxes on taxes that must be paid. Congress 
should make every attempt to eliminate from our books policies that do 
just that.
  That is why I rise today to introduce legislation that would allow 
all taxpayers to deduct from their income level those taxes that are 
paid on gasoline. This means that people would not be forced to pay 
income taxes on those taxes that are paid for fuel that Americans need 
to get to work, go to school, attend church, drive to hospitals to see 
hurting loved ones, and other of life's necessities.
  This is not a quick fix to our energy problems--by any stretch of the 
imagination. It is an attempt to help give some relief to taxpayers who 
are forced to pay exorbitant fuel costs caused, in most part, by 
federal regulatory requirements. Those costs, especially in Illinois, 
are compounded by state and local sales taxes that rise as a percentage 
of the overall price of fuel instead of the per gallon excise taxes.
  I believe it is wrong to ask Americans to pay income taxes on money 
that they pay in other taxes, whether it is a federal, state or local 
tax.

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