Political Quotes

“I came to Washington to work on several issues, one of which is the sales tax deduction. Tennesseans know my record on tax fairness. I have been working with the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Brady) to put that sales tax deduction issue on the map. I am glad to see that we have got some folks on the other side of the aisle that are coming in here and ready to help us with this debate. Like my mom always said, better late than never. Unfortunately, true to form, their proposal, the Democrat proposal is a classic political bait and switch. They are talking about supporting a sales tax deduction while they are hiding the fact that their motion to recommit contains a tax increase. Tennesseans are not going to buy that kind of gimmickry. Whenever you make that kind of bargain, the end result is always higher taxes. Today we are talking about the AMT, the alternative minimum tax. One of my Democrat colleagues said he never hears from constituents about the AMT, that they do not know what it is. He might be right. There are millions of middle-income taxpayers that do not know what is coming, that 11 million of them will be hit with an average tax increase of $1,520. So let us come back in a year and tell these people they do not know what the AMT is. They are going to know. They will know that they have been walloped with a $1,500 tax hike if we do not take action right now. They will be angry because people opposed the Republican plan that is supported today.”