Mrs. MYRICK. Yes, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Paul].
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Texas is recognized for 3 minutes.
1997 Ron Paul 94:1
Mr. PAUL.
I thank the gentlelady for yielding. I ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks.
1997 Ron Paul 94:3
Mr. PAUL.
Mr. Speaker, I was the original cosponsor of 2373, the Education Savings Act. That bill has changed. It is now 2646. I can support with reluctance this rule coming to the floor, but because of the changes that have occurred, I can no longer support this bill. There’s nobody in this House that is a stronger supporter of credits and benefits and return of funds to parents to raise their children and give them a choice.
1997 Ron Paul 94:4
There will be Members on this floor today who will oppose this bill because they can’t stand the idea of returning funds to parents and giving them a choice, but I am opposing it because this is a net tax increase. This is costing, and for that reason I can no longer support this bill.
1997 Ron Paul 94:5
Mr. Speaker, I think the best way to give individuals and families a true choice is to give them tax credit. Unfortunately, this is a small step in the right direction, which I could have supported if we wouldn’t have had to raise taxes. We are closing a so-called loophole, a benefit provided to the businessmen and the individuals who benefit from the way their vacation time is deducted. The courts ruled in favor of the taxpayer and here we’re undermining it.
1997 Ron Paul 94:6
According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, our own committee here in the Congress has estimated that what we do here today will raise taxes $1.8 billion over the next 2 years. With the most optimistic projections on how many people will use these savings accounts, they’re claiming there will only be a return of $600 million. So in the next 2 years, if this goes through, we will raise taxes three times as much as we are so-called returning.
1997 Ron Paul 94:7
This is a net tax increase. It is not the way to go. We should do one thing to provide for these tax credits, one and only, and that is cut spending. Do you realize that if we would cut the National Endowment for the Arts by less than 3 percent we would have enough funds for this? That is all that we would need to do. But instead, we go and we reverse the procedure of the courts which finally ruled in favor of the taxpayers, and now we are going to force them to reassess and revamp and make sure that those individuals on how they are handling their vacation time that more taxes will be paid.
1997 Ron Paul 94:8
It is estimated the most optimistic estimates on this bill in order to project what might happen is that 12 million people would use these accounts, the maximum amount of $2,500 for 5 years. It means $120 billion would be stashed away. That is very unlikely, but I do predict that the taxes will go up, unfortunately.
Note:
1997 Ron Paul Chapter 94
The title of this chapter was editorially supplied by the webmaster.
