[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 8257-8258]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          UNDOING HIDDEN TAXES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 20, 2004, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay) is recognized 
during morning hour debates.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, the only thing confusing seniors are 
Democrats trying to confuse seniors about their ability to prescription 
drugs through a discount card. I think it is unfortunate that the 
Democrats have chosen confusion and misleading the seniors and getting 
lower prescription drugs as available to them through the new 
strengthening and improvement of the Medicare system.
  Our Members have been home talking to seniors. To answer the question 
how will seniors be able to choose, our Members are home helping 
seniors go through the system and choosing the kind of discount card 
and the kind of program that best benefits them, rather than trying to 
confuse them.
  But, Mr. Speaker, I came here to talk about something a little bit 
different.
  Mr. Speaker, every year for 1,000 different reasons, and all of them 
our fault, American families are squeezed by the invisible grip of 
hidden taxes. These are laws and regulations, all of which are well 
intentioned, that cost our economy billions of dollars, billions of man 
hours and millions of new jobs.

[[Page 8258]]

  In addition to income taxes, customers and consumers are stuck with 
regulatory compliance costs, litigation costs, interest payments on the 
national debt, and governmental waste, fraud and abuse. And all of 
these are eventually passed on to unsuspecting consumers in the form of 
higher prices.
  This week the House will take up two bills specifically targeting 
some of those hidden taxes. The first of these will be the Middle Class 
Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act from the gentleman from Connecticut 
(Mr. Simmons).
  This legislation will protect 11 million working families and 
individuals from the unintended consequences of the Democrat-designed 
AMT, a tax provision preventing the wealthy from dodging their tax 
liability through creative accounting. Unfortunately, many middle 
income families have so benefited from Republican tax relief in 2001 
and 2003, that the AMT now considers them rich.
  Now, while deep down many Democrats may indeed consider a family 
earning $45,000 per year to be rich, the majority of the people in this 
country, and thankfully in this body, have a more realistic view of 
21st century economics.
  The Simmons bill is the first step towards making sure that the AMT 
only applies to those people it was designed to cover, not working 
families just trying to enjoy the fruits of their labor.
  Also this week, Mr. Speaker, in the House we plan to take up the 
conference report on one of the strongest, most disciplined budgets 
Congress has passed in two decades. It meets our present and reemerging 
needs while holding a firm line on discretionary spending. By setting a 
course of fiscal responsibility even in a time of war, we are giving 
the American people an opportunity to grow our economy back into 
balance, thereby protecting them from any more hidden taxes in the 
future.
  Mr. Speaker, for generations Americans have been saddled with taxes 
that are too high and a government that is not responsive enough. This 
week we will take two small steps toward solving both of those 
problems.

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