Wendy Sherman: “after 20 years as a CPA, 6 years as a tax judge, I know tax fraud when I see it. The tax bill passed by the Republican…”

“after 20 years as a CPA, 6 years as a tax judge, I know tax fraud when I see it. The tax bill passed by the Republican majority is truly tax fraud. It is a giant shift of our national income to the wealthiest one percent, cleverly disguised as a grand expedition to the furthest reaches of fiscal irresponsibility. Many speakers have come to this floor and explained how this country cannot now afford to lock itself into an $800-billion tax cut exploding in its second 10 years to a $3-trillion cut, that we should not take steps today which Alan Greenspan has cautioned us against, that we should not risk the greatest economic expansion of our lifetimes. But after all the conversation about this $800-billion to $3-trillion tax cut and what it means in its fiscal effect, there has been precious little discussion about what is actually in the bill. Well, I will tell my colleagues what is not in it. A repeal of the marriage penalty is not in this bill. They could not find a way to do it, limited as they were to $800 billion. In fact, there is far less marriage penalty relief in this bill than there was in the Democratic alternative that cost only $250 billion. What also is not in this bill is any real help for school construction.”