[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6556]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    THE FALSE PROMISES OF SOCIALISM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Tennessee (Mr. Duncan) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, people all over the country are 
moving from the high tax States to the low tax States. This is great 
for my home State of Tennessee. Almost half the people I represent have 
moved from someplace else; but it is not great for the country as a 
whole, and we will face many problems in the future if the high tax 
States do not start lowering their taxes and start trying to keep more 
of their people at home.
  New York in the 1970s had 43 Members of the House. Now it has 27 
Members. After the 2010 Census, each Member was supposed to represent 
between 705,000 and 710,000 people. While, in the 1970s, congressional 
districts had much lower populations than now, if New York had had the 
average growth of most States, it would have had about 11 million more 
people than it now has.
  Cities and States throughout the Northeast and the Midwest have been 
losing populations or have been having growth lower than in most other 
States for many years. Last year, a man from New Jersey told me his 
property taxes on a 2,800-square-foot house were $13,000. Plus, they 
had State income tax on top of that. I told him the taxes on a similar-
sized house in east Tennessee would probably be between $2,000 and 
$2,500, and there would be no State income tax on top.
  Almost every week, when I am home in Tennessee, someone tells me a 
story about how high the taxes are in the States they have moved from. 
Of course, it will be good for the young people of Tennessee if our 
legislators keep taxes low and if people would keep moving there, 
because many new jobs will be created.
  An example of the problems, though, that high taxes have created in 
the States can be seen in Michigan's Flint water crisis. When taxes 
become too high, first, upper-income residents move out, then upper-
middle, then, finally, middle-income. Then cities are left with a very 
low tax base. The pressures are greatest to pay the teachers, the 
policemen, and the firefighters first. The water infrastructure 
underground is out of sight, out of mind, and is often neglected. Flint 
has lost almost half of its population since the 1970s, as have many 
cities, large and small, throughout the high tax States of the 
Northeast and the Midwest. We are going to send a boatload of money to 
Flint because of all the publicity it has received, but we cannot do 
that for every city and county in all of the high tax States.
  I read a few days ago that Galesburg, Illinois, leaders are telling 
citizens to drink only bottled water. It is not fair to my taxpayers in 
Tennessee, where we have acted in fiscally responsible ways and have 
kept our taxes low, to have to now bail out all of the cities and 
counties and even States that have acted in fiscally irresponsible 
ways. Of course, the problems these wasteful, irresponsible, high tax 
areas that keep driving people out will be seen not just with 
infrastructure, but all across the board--in education, in law 
enforcement, and in other areas. Puerto Rico is in big trouble now. 
Many people say Illinois is next.
  I urge the high tax States all over the country to start drastically 
lowering their taxes. While this exodus of people from these States has 
been very good for States like Tennessee, it will not be good for the 
Nation as a whole in the long run if it continues. It should also serve 
as a lesson or as a warning that almost every city or State in this 
Nation and almost every country around the world that has had liberal, 
leftwing, big spending, high tax leadership is in serious financial 
trouble.
  Every young person who seems to be attracted to the false promises of 
socialism should look at Cuba, where despite hundreds of miles of 
beautiful oceanfront property and a wealth of interior natural 
resources, the average salary is $24 a month. They should also look at 
Venezuela, which has more oil than Saudi Arabia has. Their economy is 
in shambles, and children are dying because they can't get food and 
medical treatment.
  That is what socialism gives the people, Mr. Speaker.

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