Kent Conrad: “The Senator is talking about this being the biggest tax increase in history. That is the same speech he gave last year.…”

“The Senator is talking about this being the biggest tax increase in history. That is the same speech he gave last year. We can now check the record and see what actually happened and, lo and behold, there was not the biggest tax increase ever. In fact, there was no tax increase. In fact, there were tax cuts. The Democrats in both Houses of Congress cut taxes by $194 billion. In this legislation before us, we have no tax increases. We have additional tax reductions. Included in this resolution are the middle-class tax cuts, the marriage penalty relief, the child tax credit, the 10-percent bracket, further alternative minimum tax relief, estate tax reform, energy and education, property tax relief, and extenders. The difference in revenue, which is only 2.6 percent between our bill and the President's, can completely be met by closing down these offshore tax havens, abusive tax shelters, and aggressively going after the tax gap, the difference between what some owe and what they are failing to pay.”