Jeff Miller: “Absolutely. That tax increase in 1993 was a tax increase to balance the budget and to reduce spending. That thing, our…”

“Absolutely. That tax increase in 1993 was a tax increase to balance the budget and to reduce spending. That thing, our deficit in this country is getting higher and higher every year. The solution to solving our deficit problem is cutting spending, not raising taxes. As Ronald Reagan used to say, it is not that we are taxed too little, we spend too much. Until we address the spending side of the equation we are not going to get this deficit under control, so raising taxes in 1993 was a wasted exercise and it was very painful for our senior citizens as they are finding out this month of April when they pay their taxes for 1994. Another thing that is going to be really good for seniors, in addition to the repeal of that tax increase in 1993, the other is raising the earnings limit for senior citizens. This is a penalty on lower income seniors. If you make over $11,280 you get taxed at 33 percent of your Social Security income. President Clinton campaigned on that issue back in 1992, and we do not even hear about it anymore. It is a regressive tax on working seniors. Wealthy seniors, they have $100,000 of income on interest and dividends and stock investments and such, they get to draw their Social Security, but a working senior citizen, once he makes over $11,280 has to pay a 33 percent tax. That is in effect what he is paying. That is not fair. This tax bill repeals that over the next 5 years.”