Jack Kingston: “That is absolutely ridiculous. As a result, the American middle class families now pay an average of 24 percent just in…”

“That is absolutely ridiculous. As a result, the American middle class families now pay an average of 24 percent just in Federal income taxes, compared to their counterparts 20 years ago, who paid about 16 percent, and 30 years ago they paid about 5 percent. The average tax burden right now is 38 percent on average middle class families. Mr. Speaker, I want to talk to my colleagues about the IRS and about tax simplification and so forth, but before I do that, let me give my colleagues two more perspectives on $1 trillion. Shaq O'Neill makes about $30 million a year, $30 million a season, if you will. He would have to play 33,000 seasons to make $1 trillion. The man makes $30 million a year. He would have to play 33,000 seasons to make $1 trillion. That is ridiculous. Another definition. Our national budget each year is about $1.6 trillion. If you stuck $1 bills inside 50-foot boxcars on a train, that is about $65 million per boxcar. How long would the train be? Would you care to guess?”