Matt Salmon: “I heard a story about a little boy recently who wrote a letter to God, and in that letter he said: ``Dear God, please…”

“I heard a story about a little boy recently who wrote a letter to God, and in that letter he said: ``Dear God, please send me $10.'' I guess he thought that would be the best way to get the money. And the post office, not knowing where else to send the letter, sent it to the Office of the President. The President thought it was a very cute story, so he decided to send the little boy a dollar. A couple of weeks later the little boy received the dollar in the mail, and he was very, very disappointed. So he wrote another letter back to God, and this time it said, ``Dear God, thank you very much for the money. But as you recall, I asked for $10. Next time please don't send it by way of Washington. Those folks took $9 out of the $10.'' I do not think truer words were ever spoken. The fact is, this place taxes too much. When I was a little boy from a small family of 6 children, my father bringing up his family had to pay roughly about 2 percent of his income to the Federal Government. As Archie Bunker would say, ``Those were the days.'' But now we have taxed our way into oblivion. And what have we got to show for it? As the previous speaker mentioned, is the crime rate any better, and as a result of the Great Society programs of the 1960's, has our War on Poverty succeeded? With the programs we have instituted here in Washington, DC., have we really made things better or have we made things worse?”