David Thomas: “I want to compliment everyone who worked on this particular bill. For a long time, the quote/unquote, SEC user fees were…”

“I want to compliment everyone who worked on this particular bill. For a long time, the quote/unquote, SEC user fees were actually taxes, and there is a long record of the fact that it was a revenue raiser. In fact, it was a tax on investing. For some time, there has been a history of the Committee on Ways and Means using a constitutional provision in dealing with taxes called blue slipping legislation that moves from the Senate, since they do not have the ability to originate revenue, and the SEC user fees clearly fit the pattern of taxes. With this bill, that is no longer the case. With the adjustment in the user fees, what they actually are going to be are user fees. If someone wants to mark progress in the Federal system, the idea of having legislation to call something what it actually is is a blue ribbon day. So I want to thank the committee in terms of producing a product in which the phrase ``user fee'' is used and it is, indeed, a user fee. I congratulate the chairman for this.”