Jeff Duncan: “last week we passed a cost-of-government-day resolution noting that the average person now pays half of his or her…”

“last week we passed a cost-of-government-day resolution noting that the average person now pays half of his or her income in taxes counting taxes of all types: Federal, State, and local. This is terrible and getting worse, Mr. Speaker. President Clinton's budget estimated in 1994 that young people born that year would pay average lifetime tax rates of an incredible 82 percent. So I am no fan of higher taxes, and we need to drastically simplify our Tax Code. Yet I have come here this morning, Mr. Speaker, because of reports that a basketball player has now signed a 7-year, $140 million contract. This is sickening. No one could ever really deserve or earn this much money. Most people will not earn this much, even one-tenth this much, in their entire careers, $20 million for playing basketball for 1 year. I oppose increasing our overall tax burden, Mr. Speaker, but we need to greatly lower our taxes on middle and lower income people and make it up by greatly increasing our taxes on these movie stars, on the athletes and CEO's who are earning such exorbitant and undeserved rates of pay.”