Sam Brownback: “But we found, time and time again, people act rationally. They act economically rationally. So if you send a signal that…”

“But we found, time and time again, people act rationally. They act economically rationally. So if you send a signal that you are going to tax something, they will do less of it. And if you send a signal you are going to subsidize something, they do more of it. So we tax marriage, and what do you think happens in that type of situation where you put more financial pressure on the family? The $1,445 is the average. There are some that are taxed substantially more. I read to my colleagues, and the Senator from Missouri, letters from a number of people who have written in and said, ``I cannot believe you guys would talk about family values, all of you, everybody saying that families are critical, families are important, yet here is such a classic example of where you are penalizing the family, and it still exists, and you guys are still talking about family values.''”