[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 13808-13809]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            JOBS AND GROWTH, TAX CREDITS AND SMALL BUSINESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hensarling) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, last Wednesday President Bush signed the 
Jobs and Growth Act of 2003, a bill that I was proud to cosponsor. As a 
former small businessman, I believe I know something about what it 
takes to help build businesses and create jobs. But although our bill 
had to be compromised, it still has the ability to create more and 
better jobs for the American people.
  Yet there are some in this body who say that this legislation is not 
fair. They say there is not sufficient tax relief for low income 
Americans.
  Mr. Speaker, number one, they are wrong; and, number two, this is 
just another example of Democrats trying to foment class warfare in 
America.
  Let us get beyond the usual class warfare rhetoric and examine the 
facts.
  First of all, for all practical purposes, low-income people do not 
pay income taxes. In fact, in this bill we take 3.7 million Americans 
off the tax rolls. That is right, almost 4 million people who paid 
income taxes last year will pay no income taxes this year. None. How 
much more tax relief can you receive than having your tax bill torn up, 
thrown away, abandoned?
  These Americans join millions of other low-income Americans who have 
already been taken off the tax rolls in recent history.
  Additionally, Mr. Speaker, by lowering marginal rates, other low-
income Americans benefit as well. Millions who were in the 15 percent 
tax bracket last year are now in the 10 percent tax bracket. More tax 
relief for low-income families.
  The net result now is this: The bottom 50 percent of wage earners in 
America pay only 3.9 percent of the income taxes. In other words, half 
of all Americans, low-income Americans, pay almost none of the national 
income tax burden. In contrast, the top 10 percent

[[Page 13809]]

of wage earners in America pay almost two-thirds of the income taxes.
  Mr. Speaker, the critics of the jobs and growth bill fail to 
appreciate two other important facts:
  Number one, tax relief is for taxpayers. If you do not pay taxes, you 
should not expect tax relief.
  Number two, if you want jobs, give job creators tax relief. Tax 
relief is about capital. You cannot have capitalism without capital. 
You cannot claim to love jobs and then vilify job creators.
  Mr. Speaker, it is clear that some in this body want to turn our Tax 
Code into a welfare system. Well, guess what? We already have a welfare 
system. Fortunately, under a Republican Congress we have continued to 
move millions of Americans from welfare to work. And, to dispel the 
Democrat's disinformation campaign, we have increased Federal child 
care funding by 166 percent. We have increased Federal funding for 
housing by 75 percent. And, just this past year, we committed $17 
billion to the TANF welfare program.
  Tax relief is different from welfare. Tax relief is about allowing 
taxpayers to keep more of what they earn, earn through their hard work, 
helping to keep them keeping more of their own wages for their own 
families.

                              {time}  2130

  Mr. Speaker, let us not forget, it is not the government's money, it 
is the American family's money.
  Furthermore, if critics of the Jobs and Growth Act truly care about 
low-income people, they should join us and help us move them off of 
welfare checks and onto paychecks, move them up from smaller paychecks 
to bigger paychecks. In other words, these critics should help us join 
together and create more jobs.
  But Mr. Speaker, jobs are not created here in Washington, D.C. They 
are not created by the Federal Government. Jobs are created by 
hardworking risk-taking visionary men and women who, when granted 
access to capital, will roll up their sleeves and work hard to create 
that next generation of software or that new automobile repair shop or 
that innovative sign painting company, or any other enterprise. That is 
where jobs come from.
  But Mr. Speaker, the number one impediment to launching new job-
creating enterprises in America is access to capital. That is why we 
cut capital gains and dividend taxes in this bill. Additionally, we 
have lowered marginal tax rates. That is important because 80 percent 
of the tax relief at the top marginal rate goes to small businesses and 
entrepreneurs.
  If we truly care about low-income families in America, let us quit 
trying to turn the Tax Code into a welfare system. If we want jobs, tax 
relief should go to job creators. If we want job fairness, then tax 
relief should go to taxpayers.

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