[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 16123-16124]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    WE NEED A TAX POLICY WHICH WILL HELP THE ECONOMY RECOVER QUICKER

  (Mr. SMITH of Michigan asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SMITH of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, in my Seventh Congressional 
District of Michigan unemployment is going up. Some of the companies 
are closing. Several are moving to Mexico and other countries.
  In the past, the United States has been so advanced in our 
productivity and our efficiency that we could put heavy taxes on 
business and industry, and we could impose restrictive regulations, and 
still be competitive in the world market. That is no longer true, Mr. 
Speaker. The international community is now vying for our markets, our 
ways of producing, trying to be more productive and take away our 
business.
  That means that we have got to take another look at how we put our 
companies at a competitive disadvantage, the way we tax our business 
and industry more than what other countries are taxing theirs. We now 
have a situation where Democrats are suggesting that if

[[Page 16124]]

we have any tax changes to have a faster economic recovery, they are 
going to use it politically, suggesting taxation to give benefits for 
just the rich. We need to look at the kind of taxes that will protect 
workers savings and are going to help this economy recover quicker.

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