Angie Craig: “America always rises to a challenge. We meet challenges readily and directly and would never ignore one knowingly as a…”

“America always rises to a challenge. We meet challenges readily and directly and would never ignore one knowingly as a country. Therefore, it is not surprising that the greatest threat facing our Nation today would be the least visible. It is invisible because it originates behind our defenses. It does not come from a foreign country; it comes from our own. While it directly threatens our well-being, it dares not confront us directly. It uses Americans' good will and generosity against them. All of this serves to make the threat more insidious and more dangerous. Mr. President, the greatest threat facing America today is excessive taxation and with it a Washington culture that has transformed excessive into acceptable. By any estimation, America's tax burden is excessive. Washington is projected to take $1.68 trillion in taxes this year. No government in history has ever collected that much from its citizens. As an overall burden, that $1.7 trillion amounts to 20.1 percent of the Nation's gross domestic product. One-fifth of everything produced in this country is consumed by this city, this Government, Washington, DC. That one-fifth is the highest overall tax burden since World War II, when America had committed itself to a total effort to win the greatest war in mankind's history. Even then, under those most serious of circumstances, the tax burden placed on the Nation was only slightly larger than it is today.”