Political Quotes

“Thank you, Mr. Doggett. I am so pleased to join you here today to support this motion to instruct. I was, of course, one of the original cosponsors of the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act, which provides the authority for the Treasury to take action against foreign governments and financial institutions that significantly impede U.S. tax enforcement. Treasury already has similar authority to combat money laundering, so the infrastructure and the know-how already exist. Congress has an opportunity in this transportation bill to transport this very important debt reduction initiative into our proceedings here today. It will stop sophisticated tax avoidance schemes that add to the national debt and ultimately the burden for that debt that honest taxpayers must bear and are concerned with. In my home State of Wisconsin, it's estimated that every single honest taxpayer in Wisconsin paid an extra $372 in taxes in 2011 to make up from the revenue lost from corporations, criminals, and wealthy individuals utilizing illegal tax-avoidance schemes. These numbers are even more offensive for Wisconsin small businesses that pay an additional $2,165 due to these abuses of the Tax Code. That may not seem like a lot of money to anyone--$372--but you multiply that by taxpayers and by 50 States, and according to a GAO study, that turns out to be $100 billion. That's a really nice piece of change.…”