Gerald Kleczka: “Mr. Speaker, I agree with everything the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kasich) has just said. We have to rethink, relook and…”

“Mr. Speaker, I agree with everything the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kasich) has just said. We have to rethink, relook and revise our current Tax Code. But we have not done that yet. And for us to put the cart before the horse, to repeal the current code before we have an agreement on that new code, is not only irresponsible, but I would reterm this legislation as a pig in a poke, because we do not know what is going to be the replacement code. All week long before the Committee on Ways and Means, we have had hearings on three different types of alternatives to the current code, and the more questions we asked about the alternatives, the more questions went unanswered. The most popular was the one introduced by the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Linder). He is touting this as a national sales tax, and the rate he pegged within the committee was 23 percent. Upon questioning, we found out that it is not 23 percent, it was almost 30 percent, on every good and service produced in this country, prescription drugs, funeral services, everything. We talked to the Joint Committee on Taxation, which is a scientific committee, to give us expertise. They said that national sales tax, to be revenue neutral, would have to be a 59 percent rate.”