Jim Inhofe: “as I was sitting in the chair presiding and I was listening to several people try to justify an argument against…”

“as I was sitting in the chair presiding and I was listening to several people try to justify an argument against repealing the tax increase, a tax increase that was sold to the American people that it only affected the fat cats in this country, we are talking about the gasoline tax at 4.3 cents as if 4.3 cents is not a significant amount. I remind these people that this was part of a package in 1993, when Bill Clinton had control of both Houses of Congress, and they passed what was characterized by then the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, as ``the largest single tax increase in the history of public finance, in America or any nation in the world.'' I think it needs to be in the Record after these statements justifying continuing these taxes that if anyone was opposed to ``the largest single tax increase in the history of public finance, in America or any place in the world'' back in 1993, they would be supportive of repealing any portion of that tax increase today. It was not just a gasoline tax. It was many other taxes which included a 50 percent tax on Social Security for thousands and thousands of senior citizens in America. So I think that those individuals who believe as the chief financial adviser to the President believes, that there is no relationship between the level of taxation in a country and its economic production, have lost the argument because truly that is not the case.”