Political Quotes

“One, to follow up on some comments made by the gentleman from Maryland, first of all, history has proven time and time again when we have cut taxes, we have ended up with increasing revenue. The gentleman from Maryland cited the Reagan administration. The fact is, within a decade of the big Reagan tax cuts, revenue collected by the Federal Government, tax revenue had about doubled. The problem was that expenditures tripled, and this reinforces my point that the problem here is spending. The problem is not that we are undertaxed. The second point that I want to make, the gentleman from Maryland was referring to declining revenues in the height of the economic slowdown. I do not think anybody disputes that if the economy is in a recession, when the economy is contracting, revenue decreases. That is true. That is what happens when you have, especially a combination of a contracting economy, and then you have the cost of a war, it is not surprising that you have a deficit under those circumstances. The final point I want to make, to suggest that this provision does not amount to the equivalent of a tax increase I think is just factually wrong.”