JOHN LINDER: “Mr. Speaker, if we just take that last comment by the gentleman from Texas and play it over and over and over, we would…”

“Mr. Speaker, if we just take that last comment by the gentleman from Texas and play it over and over and over, we would have today's debate, because they are concerned that people who pay taxes will get tax relief. We have over the last 40 years removed 50 percent of the income earners from the tax rolls. This year the top 1 percent of the income earners will pay 38 percent of all the income taxes. The bottom 50 percent collectively will pay less than 3 percent. And, guess what? I do not mean to sound remedial here, but if you are going to cut taxes, the taxpayers are going to get the relief. We have done this before in this country. In 1961 President Kennedy said, 'A rising tide lifts all boats.' They removed the top tax bracket from 90 percent to 70 percent, and guess who got the relief? The top tax bracket. We reduce taxes in this country for a reason, and it is an economic reason. The less burden the government places on the backs of small businesses and income earners, the more economic activity we will have, and more economic activity means more jobs, and more jobs means more taxpayers, and indeed, more revenues. In 1980, before the Reagan tax cut, the American people contributed $519 billion to the Federal Government. After those outrageous tax cuts, 10 years later, the American people contributed $1.54 trillion. A rising tide lifts all boats.”