Jeb Hensarling: “Well, I thank the gentleman once again for yielding. There is a big question again about tax increases, and I have heard…”

“Well, I thank the gentleman once again for yielding. There is a big question again about tax increases, and I have heard many of my friends on the other side of the aisle argue that there is no tax increase included in their budget; yet, Mr. Chairman, they claim that they are going to balance the budget in 2012. Well, the only way they can do that is by capturing all these tax revenues. Now, some of them use very clever Washington language. They say, well, we are not raising taxes on working men and women in America. We are just letting tax relief expire. Well, that is a very fine distinction that is lost upon the working men and women of America. I mean, there is this odd quirk in Washington that somehow spending is forever and it grows exponentially at the expense of the family budget, and yet tax relief somehow is temporary. The bottom line is that very soon, within two budget years, there is going to be a massive tax increase upon the American people. There will be, again, the largest single tax increase in American history. Now, we were just talking about the earlier record when the Democrats were in control of Congress of $241 billion. The tax increase they are proposing now will dwarf that, $683 billion, the largest tax increase in American history. Again, they want to claim credit for balancing the budget, and I certainly salute their goal. The Republican budget, it balances the budget without tax increases.”