Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, whatever the gentleman may say, the fact is this bill, since it deals only with earnings earned completely within a State, represents a major assault on the sovereignty of the States. It is one thing to say that interstate commerce must be regulated, that the State's ability to extend its tax out, its tax through a company without much nexus to the State that sells into the State can be regulated, but that is not this. What this says is: We are going to limit the State's ability to tax economic activity that occurs entirely within the State. Now, one might argue that if someone only spends a couple days in the State, you shouldn't tax that because it will discourage doing business in the State; and maybe if I were still a member of the State legislature, maybe I would argue that. But that is an argument for the State legislature. It is not an argument for Congress. That is an argument on the economic merits of the State's exercise of its own tax powers and its own judgment within its own borders. For Congress to step in and say: New York must forgo $125 million in revenue or some other State must forgo $55 million or maybe $22.38 entirely based on economic activity within that State is, frankly, none of our business. Today we talk about the burden that this imposes.…”