Congressional Record United States Th of America PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES of the 106 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION

E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 106 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION Vol. 146 WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, APRIL 4, 2000 No. 40 House of Representatives The House met at 9:30 a.m. colleagues the March 26 article in the crease. Both the employer and the em- f Washington Post which highlights the ployee pay these payroll taxes with the tax cutting success of the Republicans employer passing his burden to the em- MESSAGE FROM THE SENATE here in Congress. The title reads, ployee through the form of lower A message from the Senate by Mr. quote, ‘‘Federal Tax Levels Falls For wages. If we combine the employer/em- Lundregan, one of its clerks, an- Most,’’ end quote. ployee share of payroll taxes, the bur- nounced that the Senate has passed The article highlights studies con- den is 15.3 percent, which exceeds the without amendments bills of the House ducted by a number of tax experts Federal income tax. of the following titles: which have concluded that the median We also have other Federal taxes H.R. 1374. An act to designate the United two-income family pays less in Federal such as the estate tax, the corporate States Post Office building located at 680 taxes today than it did in 1981. Now, income tax, various excise taxes paid U.S. Highway 130 in Hamilton, New Jersey, the figures may differ a little bit from by businesses which are passed on to as the ‘‘John K. Rafferty Hamilton Post Of- the Congressional Budget Office, the the American taxpayers in the form of fice Building’’. Treasury Department, or the Tax H.R. 3189. An act to designate the United higher consumer prices or in the re- Foundation depending upon the level of duced value of assets. States post office located at 14071 Peyton the two-family income. Drive in Chino Hills, California, as the ‘‘Jo- The percentage of Federal income Finally, of course, there are the seph Ileto Post Office’’. taxes paid has decreased anywhere State and local income taxes which The message also announced that from 2 percent to 3 percent. Most nota- surprisingly represent a higher amount pursuant to Public Law 105–134, the bly, the Tax Foundation study shows of the tax burden compared with just Amtrak Reform and Accountability that in 1998, a two-earner family with the Federal income tax. The percent- Act of 1997, the Chair announces the an income of $68,605 paid 8.8 percent in age of income paid in State and local appointment of the following indi- Federal income taxes, roughly the taxes is 13.1%. This amount is 4.3% vidual, appointed by the Minority same percentage as in 1955. The Tax more than paid in federal income taxes Leader of the United States Senate, to Foundation credits much of the drop in on median two income families. the Amtrak Reform Council: James E. the percentage paid in taxes to the en- So by adding the payroll tax, all Fed- Coston of Illinois vice Donald R. Sweit- actment of the Taxpayer Relief Act of eral taxes, State and local taxes, the zer of Virginia. 1997. In particular, families received median two-earner family is paying 39 f much of the relief through the per- percent of its income in total taxes. child tax credit and the Hope and Life- MORNING HOUR DEBATES Now, in 1996 the total tax burden was time Learning Education credits. The SPEAKER. Pursuant to the In the 106th Congress, we are going a 41.5 percent, so we have seen some re- order of the House of January 19, 1999, step further by eliminating the mar- lief due to the Republicans’ initiatives. the Chair will now recognize Members riage penalty tax, reducing the so- Compare the total burden today to from lists submitted by the majority called death tax and allowing self-em- 1955, when the two-earner family paid and minority leaders for morning hour ployed people to deduct 100 percent of only 18.2 percent total taxes. That is an debates. The Chair will alternate rec- their health insurance costs. enormous increase over 43 years, and I ognition between the parties, with each So, Mr. Speaker, we have made great believe it shows that the publicity over party limited to not to exceed 30 min- strides here in Congress to reduce the the reduction in the Federal income utes, and each Member except the ma- Federal income tax burden on the tax burden, while important, masks jority leader, the minority leader or American taxpayer, but I believe there the magnitude of the total tax burden the minority whip limited to not to ex- is more to be done. Though the average on Americans. We need to continue to ceed 5 minutes. American family is paying somewhat provide relief from the estate and gift The Chair recognizes the gentleman less in Federal income taxes, Mr. tax, reduce the capital gains taxes, en- from Florida (Mr. STEARNS) for 5 min- Speaker, the Tax Foundation report courage State and local governments utes. also shows that the total tax burden to provide additional tax relief for all Americans. f for the median two-earner family is 39 percent. For instance, there is the pay- We are making progress, Mr. Speak- THE TOTAL TAX BURDEN roll tax which pays for Social Security, er. Let us continue to work harder here Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, I would disability insurance and hospital por- and to do more for the American peo- like to bring to the attention of my tion of Medicare. These continue to in- ple. b This symbol represents the time of day during the House proceedings, e.g., b 1407 is 2:07 p.m. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. H1677 . VerDate Aug 31 2005 04:02 Jun 07, 2008 Jkt 041999 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4634 Sfmt 0634 J:\ODA15\MISCRE~1\2000\H04AP0.REC H04AP0 mmaher on MIKETEMP with SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS H1678 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE April 4, 2000 UNDERGROUND CAMPAIGN filed and paid, are essentially sub- ergy solutions. Here at home, Mr. DISCLOSURE ACT sidizing these 527 loophole organiza- Speaker, in the United States, the The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. tions, I believe that all of us have a House Democrats are working to en- RYAN of Wisconsin). Under the Speak- right to know what these clandestine sure our Nation’s long-term energy se- er’s announced policy of January 19, groups are doing, who is giving and curity while encouraging growth in our 1999, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. how their money is spent. economy. We are working to reduce our DOGGETT) is recognized during morning This legislation that I am intro- reliance on fossil fuels and gas guzzling hour debates for 5 minutes. ducing would implement the rec- vehicles, increase energy conservation Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, there is ommendations of the nonpartisan Con- and protect our domestic and global a new, rather innocuous-sounding term gressional Joint Committee on Tax- environment. that embodies much of what is wrong ation, which only recently concluded I should add that the threats of cli- with our campaign finance system in that ‘‘the special status accorded mate change are very real. The past America today. It is called the ‘‘527’’. It [these 527’s] under present law justifies decade has seen some of the largest is not a bird; it is not a plane; but it is this public disclosure.’’ temperature increases on record. The the Superman, the super weapon, of Under my legislation, when the at- impacts of climate change could in- choice for American politics in this tack ads hit the airwaves, we can at clude more extreme weather events, election year. least identify the attackers. sea level rise, erosion, changes in rain- With unlimited amounts of hidden Though my home State of Texas has fall patterns, increases in disease campaign money, 527 organizations are the most polluted city in America, a epidemics, and changes in agricultural filling our airwaves with hate and our Texas-based Republican 527 group ran production. And even if we act now, it mailboxes with misinformation. 527 attack ads in New York against Sen- will take many years to reverse the simply refers to section 527 of the In- ator MCCAIN about air pollution. trend of increasing atmospheric con- ternal Revenue Code. It was actually Drug manufacturers, who have in- centrations of greenhouse gases. enacted back in the Watergate era to sisted on discriminating against unin- Democrats, Mr. Speaker, in the respond to abuses at that time. But sured seniors by charging them over House are trying to be practical. We now it is as if we have been revisited by twice as much as their most favored are supporting measures in the admin- the ghost of Nixon and all the wrong- customers on needed prescriptions, istration’s budget proposal that would doing of the Committee for the Reelec- have founded a Republican-friendly promote energy efficient and renewable tion of the President, better known as group that has mislabeled itself ‘‘Citi- energy technologies in the United CREEP. zens for Better Medicare.’’ This 527 is States and abroad, and that would re- Roll Call first reported on this phe- committed to spending over $30 million duce emissions that harm people’s nomenon last fall; and with a clever this year to block reform, and, indeed, health and degrade our natural re- and somewhat humorous cartoon, as it has already run attack ads against sources.

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