On the recordMarch 11, 1997
I think it is a very foolish course to follow, because history shows that every time Congress has increased taxes, Congress has also seen fit to increase spending by $1.59 for every dollar we have increased taxes. So in spite of the fact that we had tax increases in 1990 and tax increases in 1993, in both cases, in a stated attempt to balance the budget, in both cases the deficit got worse. There are reasons for that that I will not go into, but they had to do with the way the economy performs when we raise taxes and the way it performs in a positive way when taxes are reduced. I happen to favor a version of the balanced budget amendment which creates a supermajority provision to raise taxes. In other words, if we as an institution decide that it might be a good idea to raise taxes instead of cutting spending to balance the budget, then we ought to do it, in my view, with a supermajority two-thirds vote.
Said by
Jim Saxton
Source
govinfo.gov