Asa Hutchinson: “I welcome the opportunity to appear before the committee today to discuss the importance of family tax relief. Let me…”

“I welcome the opportunity to appear before the committee today to discuss the importance of family tax relief. Let me say at the outset, Mr. Speaker, how must I appreciate your personal commitment to the American family and your leadership in promoting legislation which strengthens and empowers American families. The intact family is our country's most effective government--the most effective department of housing, the most effective department of education, the most effective department of human services, and the most effective department of labor. The family is the fundamental unit of society, the guardian of our social fabric and primary conveyor of values. Yet it has been under attack by an unsympathetic government. We could not have devised more antifamily public policy--to the end of undermining the traditional American family--than if we had sat down and consciously designed such a plan. We have taxed them until both parents have to work in the job market, regardless if one wishes to stay at home and rear the children. The average family of four now spends 38 percent of its income on taxes-- more than it spends on food, clothing, housing and recreation combined. We have allowed the value of the dependent exemption to erode over time until it is worth only a fraction of what it was 40 years ago. In effect we have said that children and families are of less value than they were in the last generation.”