Motion to Instruct Conferees on H.R. 4297, Tax Relief Extension Reconciliation Act of 2005

MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES ON H.R. 4297, TAX RELIEF EXTENSION RECONCILIATION ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - April 06, 2006)

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Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, what are the priorities of the Democratic Party? And what are the priorities of the Republican majority, the Republican majority who have been in power in the House and the Senate for 5 1/2 years with a Republican President for 5 1/2 years, with their policies, leading to a greater and greater difference, disparity in incomes between the very rich and the middle class and the working poor and the poor, and the greatest deficit in the history of the United States. That is the result of the priorities and policies of the Republican majority. That is a fact. I believe they are the wrong priorities, and they put us continuous on the wrong track, but that will be up to the voters in November to change.

But what about the comments you hear about these tax cuts that are spurring the economy in unprecedented revenues? Hogwash. Hogwash. The Secretary of Treasury, John Snow, from the Bush administration came before our committee this week and said, Secretary of the Treasury under President Bush said, these tax cuts are responsible for one-third of this deficit. They are responsible for one-third of this deficit, the greatest deficit in the history of the United States. That is what these tax cuts have caused.

He said, by the way, for every dollar in tax cuts we give, we do not get back more money than we gave out in tax cuts. We get 30 to 40 cents for every dollar in tax cuts which means we lose in the Treasury 60 to 70 cents on every dollar we give out. We only get back 30 to 40 cents.

Well, if we could afford that I suppose it would be great to give people back more money. Then the question is who should get the tax cuts? People on the Republican side of the aisle say boldly, everybody should get a tax cut. Well, I do not know about you but in a time of war, in a time when we have natural disasters like Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Katrina, when people are working harder and not making any more money, they have growing health care bills and are worried about their retirement, they are having their college tuition costs increased by the Republican majority, veterans are paying more than ever because the majority says they do not have the money, they do not have the money, they say, even to inspect more than 5 percent of the containers coming into America, then say we do not have the money.

Hong Kong inspects 100 percent of the containers. What are they doing with the money? They are giving it to the very richest people in the country, and they say it boldly. Yes, we are doing that. Everybody should have a tax cut. Well, you know these same folks have been getting the benefit of trillions of dollars of tax cuts since President Bush took office.

The recession has been over for 3 years. Do they still need the money when we have the biggest deficit in history? And you tell veterans and college kids and seniors, we do not have the money for your program, or parents with kids who have disabilities, we do not have money for your program? They say, well, there they go again, those Democrats, class warfare. Hogwash.

We have to make a decision about what to do with our tax dollars. Should we spend it on people who need it, the middle class, by getting rid of this Alternative Minimum Tax. The Republican majority says no, we do not have the money to get rid of the Alternative Minimum Tax that affects primarily the middle class. They say they do not have the money. They did not put it in the budget.

What they did put in their budget were huge tax cuts for people making over $500,000, $1 million, $10 million, up to the sky. Forty-five percent of the tax cuts under their bill here, 45 percent of the revenues go to people with incomes of $1 million a year. Is that the country you want to live in where we allow the Republican majority to give our money to the rich and tell everybody else go jump in the lake, pull yourselves up by your boot straps, but the rich should get the money?

There is a difference, Mr. Speaker, between the Democratic Party, who says let's fix that Alternative Minimum Tax that hurts the middle class. Let's spend the money on that, not tax cuts for the very rich.

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Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I just want to respond to the gentleman. Maybe it is a question of religious values, but I thought every major religion in the world said that those with extreme wealth should not be living high on the hog while everybody else is suffering. I thought that that is what every major religion talked about.

If I am correct in my American history, the income tax does not say ``give the money to the rich and they do not have to pay any more than the poor.''

Our income tax system is a progressive system under the American belief that if you are incredibly wealthy you should be paying a little more in taxes, not only in dollar amount but in percentage of your taxes. That has been our tax policy in this country since there was an income tax at the beginning of the 20th century.

So we know as Americans, as good moral people, Mr. Speaker, that this is the right thing to do. You do not give your money to the people who need it the least.

Now, they say they earned it and you are not giving them back their money. However you want to describe it, how much money do we get in from those taxes? We get in enough money to still have the largest deficit, not pay for education costs and veterans costs and other costs, unless we say to those who got trillions of tax cuts since 2001, you know, you are making over $500,000 a year, you have got tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of dollars in tax cuts since 2001, perhaps during this time of war; perhaps during the time of the greatest deficit in the history of the United States, we are going to say this year, let's give the money or take your taxes and use that money to help the middle class by getting rid of the alternative minimum tax.

Mr. Speaker, I said this before. I will say it again, it is worth repeating. There is a difference between the Democrats and the Republican majority. The Democrat minority, hopefully to be the majority after November, we believe the money that is collected in taxes should be spent wisely, prioritized to meet the needs of our country, the middle class, the working class, to give incentives to people to work.

If you are making $1 million, $10 million, you are going to have to pay your fair share, and you can afford to allow your taxes to be used to help the middle class. Your kids are going to have plenty to eat. Your kids are going to college, and you will drive your Rolls Royce and get it filled up every week with gasoline. That is the difference, not class warfare.

What do we do with our money? Give it to the rich or give it to the middle class who are the heart and soul and lifeblood of this economy and this country?

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