Political Quotes

“I do not know if I will take the full 3 minutes because it is hard to find very much to say about this radical piece of legislation from the radical right that is bound and determined to shift the tax burden of the American public, to shift it from a progressive tax to a regressive tax. And why do I know the cat is out of the bag? I listened to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Archer] earlier in this debate. He said that under this proposed constitutional amendment with a majority vote, he could pass a consumption tax, which would be a national sales tax. That is the consumption tax, the most regressive tax that we can find, and he can do it on majority vote. At the same time, he can lower the high tax rate from 39, 36, eliminate them altogether, make the highest tax rate around 25 percent, so that a millionaire will only pay 25 percent. Then he would pay the national sales tax of 20 percent maybe of what he buys only, and that is all. Then the poor person out here that is making $20,000 a year, got a wife and two kids, is going to pay that same 20 percent sales tax that the millionaire pays, the same rate that the millionaire pays for necessities. The cat is out of the bag, folks. That is what this is all about: Who pays? Who pays? Who suffers the burden? The Republican radical right under Newt Gingrich wants to shift that burden. They proved it with their tax cut proposal last year.”