Political Quotes

“a few weeks ago I sat through a hearing of the House and Senate Budget Committees on the issue of dynamic and static revenue estimating. At this hearing, the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation presented a statement that seemed particularly concerned about an article that Bruce Bartlett of the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution had published in the Wall Street Journal a few weeks ago. Since I know Mr. Bartlett personally, I was especially interested in what he had to say. Apparently what the Joint Committee staff is most concerned about was Mr. Bartlett's discussion of an exchange Senator Packwood, the chairman of the Finance Committee, had had with the Joint Tax Committee regarding the revenue effect of raising the top tax rate to 100 percent on those earning more than $200,000. According to Senator Packwood, the Joint Committee had predicted some $200 billion per year in additional revenues from this tax change. Senator Packwood rightly characterized this estimate as questionable.”