| 00:00:00 | WAS JOHN KENNEDY WHO IN HIS STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH HE WAS ELECTED SAID WE CAN'T EXPECT TO CONTINUE TO LEAD THE ECONOMIC WORLD IF WE FAIL TO SET THE ECONOMIC PACE AT HOME. |
| 00:00:14 | AND HE WENT ON IN HIS SPEECH TO DETAIL THE TAX-CUT PLAN THAT HE WANTED TO PUT IN PLACE. |
| 00:00:20 | IT WAS PUT IN PLACE AND THE ECONOMY GREW. |
| 00:00:24 | AND RONALD REAGAN DID THE SAME THING. |
| 00:00:28 | DIFFERENT PLAN, SAME CONCEPT. |
| 00:00:34 | AND GEORGE BUSH ONE DID THE SAME THING AND GEORGE W. |
| 00:00:38 | BUSH HAS EMBARKED UPON THE SAME THING. |
| 00:00:41 | IT HAS BEEN SUGGESTED BY THE MINORITY THAT SOMEHOW WE CAN HAVE TAX CUTS WITHOUT CUTTING TAXES OF PEOPLE WHO PAY TAXES. |
| 00:00:54 | THIS CHART SHOWS WHO PAYS TAXES. |
| 00:00:57 | AS A MATTER OF FACT, THE TOP 1% OF THE TAXPAYERS PAY 34% OF THE TAXES. |
| 00:01:02 | THE TOP 50% OF THE TAXPAYERS PAY 96% OF THE TAXES. |
| 00:01:07 | AND THAT MEANS THAT ABOUT 4% OF THE TAXES THAT ARE PAID PERSONAL INCOME TAXES THAT ARE PAID IN THIS COUNTRY ARE PAID BY THE BOTTOM 50% OF THE WAGE EARNERS. |
| 00:01:20 | AS MR. |
| 00:01:21 | HULSHOF JUST POINTED OUT, MANY OF THOSE FOLKS HAVE BEEN TAKEN OFF THE TAX ROLLS ALTOGETHER. |
| 00:01:29 | SO THE CHARGE THAT PEOPLE WHO EARN MORE MONEY GET A LARGER SHARE OF THE TAX CODE, I WOULD JUST ASK THIS QUESTION, IF YOU BELIEF AS I DO THAT TAX CUTS STIMULATE ECONOMIC GROWTH AND IF YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TAX CUTS AT ALL, THEN YOU HAVE TO CUTS FROM THE PEOPLE WHO ARE PAYING THEM AND THEY ARE ALMOST ALL IN UP THER HALF OF THE INCOME BRACKETS. |
| 00:01:58 | THANK YOU, 345EUR78. |
| 00:01:59 | -- THANK YOU, MR. |
| 00:02:00 | CHAIRMAN. |
| 00:02:01 | THE CHAIRMAN: THE GENTLEMAN'S TIME HAS EXPIRED. |
| 00:02:03 | IT IS NOW IN ORDER TO CONDUCT GENERAL DEBATE ON THE CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET. |
| 00:02:06 | THE GENTLEMAN FROM MISSOURI MR. |
| 00:02:08 | HULSHOF, AND THE GENTLEMAN FROM SOUTH CAROLINA, MR. |
| 00:02:11 | SPRATT, EACH WILL CONTROL 90 MINUTES. |
| 00:02:16 | THE GENTLEMAN FROM MISSOURI. |
| 00:02:17 | MR. |
| 00:02:18 | HULSHOF: I APPRECIATE IT, MR. |
| 00:02:20 | CHAIRMAN AND I YIELD MYSELF SUCH TIME AS I MAY |
Mr. SAXTON. Mr. Chairman, just to conclude this debate, it was not a Republican idea originally to stimulate economic growth by use of the tax policy. It was John Kennedy's idea. When Ronald Reagan was elected President, we Republicans all stuck our chests out and said what a wonderful idea. But it was John Kennedy, who, in his State of the Union speech after he was elected, said we cannot expect to continue to lead the economic world if we fail to set the economic pace at home. And he went on in his speech to detail the tax cut plan that he wanted to put in place. It was put in place and the economy grew. And Ronald Reagan did the same thing. A different plan, same concept. And George Bush I did the same thing, and George W. Bush has embarked upon the same thing.
Now, it has been suggested by the minority that somehow we can have tax cuts without cutting taxes of people who pay taxes. This chart to my left shows who pays taxes. As a matter of fact, the top 1 percent of the taxpayers pay 34 percent of the taxes. The top 50 percent of the taxpayers pay 96 percent of the taxes. And that means that about 4 percent of the personal income taxes that are paid in this country are paid by the bottom 50 percent of the wage earners. As Mr. Hulshof just pointed out, many of those folks have been taken off the tax rolls altogether.
[Time: 13:15] So the charge that people who earn more money get a larger share of the tax cut, I guess I would just ask this question: If you believe, as I do, that tax cuts stimulate economic growth, and if you are going to have tax cuts at all, then you have to cut taxes from the people who are paying them, and they are almost all in the upper half of the income brackets.