On the recordMarch 25, 2015
Let's just dispel with a myth from the start, which is that the Republican budget balances. As we have heard, only if you believe in budget quackery does it do this. Even a newspaper like USA Today, which has no partisan bent to it, blew the whistle on all the accounting gimmicks in the Republican budget. Now, let me just say a word about revenues and taxes. The Democratic budget doesn't call for any increase in any tax rate on anybody, unlike the Republican budget that refuses to close one special interest tax break to reduce the deficit, which they say is the primary objective. Rather than close one special interest tax break to reduce the deficit, they don't touch a single one--not for corporate jets, not for hedge fund managers. I want everybody to look at this chart. This is from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. What they say is that each year there are outlays. We spend $1.4 trillion on tax breaks in the United States-- more than on Social Security in any year, more than on Medicaid and Medicare combined. Well, if I give you, Mr. Speaker, a thousand dollars from the government, I can also deliver that same benefit by telling you that of the taxes you owe me, pay me a thousand dollars less. Maybe you have got a great powerful lobbyist who is getting you a special break, so that when the normal person has to pay regular tax rates, you get a special deduction.…
