Neal Dunn: “I want to compliment the people in this body who put together what I believe is a very well-balanced and…”

“I want to compliment the people in this body who put together what I believe is a very well-balanced and well-thought-out tax relief proposal. I believe it is very important for people to recognize at the very beginning that this amount of taxes, $1.35 trillion in revenue, is provided in tax cuts only after every other part of the Federal government is funded. In fact, in total, the Federal budget is funded at almost 5 percent of an increase. I think it is very important that we have been responsible in funding the other elements of our government; in fact, giving an 11.5 percent increase to education, setting aside Social Security surpluses, setting aside dollars for Medicare, paying down over the next 10 years, the period of this budget, $2.3 billion in debt owed to the public. I think it is also very important, Mr. Speaker, to recognize what people want around the country now. People want, for one thing, a lot more control over their dollars. That is what we are giving them in this tax relief proposal. I want to speak briefly to one provision that I am very interested in; that is, the repeal of the death tax or the estate tax. The estate tax right now is at the point of putting a burden of up to 55 percent on the backs of people who are basically folks who have bought a home, put money into it for years, provided responsibly for their retirement.”