Doris Matsui: “Mr. Speaker, it is really hard to take this whole issue seriously this afternoon. We all know that it is not going to…”

“Mr. Speaker, it is really hard to take this whole issue seriously this afternoon. We all know that it is not going to become law. It is going to pass out of the House but the Senate will not take action on it. That is why we are not seeing lobbyists clamber down on Capitol Hill. That is why we are not seeing letters to the editor. That is why we are seeing no stories in the major newspapers throughout the country. This is really a political opportunity for one of the parties. This is not going to become law. So it is really hard to get particularly pushed out of shape or excited or concerned about this. It is just not going to become law. Because the reality of the situation is that those that are advancing this particular proposal really in 1997 added thousands of pages to the Tax Code. In fact, we have added in 1997 when the Republicans were in control of the Congress 285 new sections to the Tax Code, 824 new amendments to the Tax Code. This is just in 1 year. There are now five ways, five separate ways to do capital gains. In fact, Schedule D, which had 23 lines, now has 54 lines, and it really does take H&R Block to really figure it out.”