Political Quotes

“most of us can appreciate the feeling of the fellow who declared, ``I am proud to be paying taxes, but I could be just as proud for half the money!'' Some taxpayers have, in fact, discovered a way to get out for half the money by exploiting abusive tax avoidance schemes, gimmicks, and tax shelters. For the millions of Americans who are paying their fair share of taxes, it is long past time to plug some of the loopholes and eliminate the tax inequities that threaten public confidence in our tax system. Today, together with the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel), the ranking member of the Committee on Ways and Means and a number of my Democratic colleagues on the committee, I am introducing the Abusive Tax Shelter Shutdown Act to address these concerns. With the Bush administration already dipping into the Medicare trust fund to pay for its many undertakings, we face a challenge. To implement a patients' bill of rights, to ensure that the dipping into the Medicare trust fund does not extend to an invasion of the Social Security trust fund, and to provide reasonable tax relief, we must ensure that lower tax revenues are offset. We must secure what are known around this House as ``pay-for's'' to pay for the enactment of any new initiatives. With the bill that we are introducing today, we say: what better place to start than with the high rollers who are cheating and gaming our tax system.”