[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 16] [Extensions of Remarks] [Page 23641] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]THE REPUBLICAN TAX BILL ______ HON. MAX SANDLIN of texas in the house of representatives Thursday, September 30, 1999 Mr. SANDLIN. Mr. Speaker, the Republican tax bill is the definition of fiscal recklessness. It seeks to enact a tax cut that is based only on projected surpluses under ten and fifteen year estimates. Budget projections for the next ten years have improved by nearly $2 trillion in the last twelve months--they could go the other way just as quickly. If budget projections turn out to be wrong, the budget will return to deficits financed by borrowing from the Social Security surplus. Even the Congressional Budget Office--the source of budget projections upon which the Republicans' tax cuts are based--says these projections could vary as much as $100 billion a year. That's an extremely wide margin of error, wide enough to cause deep concerns among fiscal conservatives like me. Furthermore, even though Republicans are spending money they can't guarantee will exist, their tax plan still leaves no resources to meet important needs in education, agriculture, or defense, as well as funding for our veterans and other priorities. It is based on the assumption that discretionary spending will be cut by $595 billion below 1999 levels adjusted for inflation over the next ten years. This will require a cut in all discretionary programs of ten percent below current levels. Any increased spending in any area will require even deeper cuts in all other spending. The exploding costs of the tax bill will place an even greater squeeze on discretionary spending in later years. If these massive tax cuts are passed, education will suffer greatly. The Republican tax bill includes a change to the tax-exempt bond arbitrage rules that largely fails to meet the stated objective of modernizing schools, especially in rural areas. Under H.R. 2488, school districts would have four years to spend school construction bond proceeds rather than the two years currently permitted. According to Republicans, this would enable school districts to invest bond proceeds for a longer period and recognize greater arbitrage profits. The Republicans contend that their plan is universal, covering cities, suburbs, and farms. The truth is, many suburban and city school districts will receive NO BENEFITS from the Republican proposal. Schools with urgent needs, forced to teach children in trailers and dilapidated buildings, would not benefit from H.R. 2488. Their backlog of unmet needs means that they do not have the luxury of waiting four years before completing school construction. The Republican proposal also largely excludes some of our most needy schools--those in rural areas. The provisions in the Republican tax bill may benefit a few large, wealthy school districts with the financial capacity to issue large bonds four years in advance of need, but it WILL NOT help rural districts. The bottom line is simple: this bill will only serve to hurt the American people by jeopardizing the stability of our economy and the prosperity of future generations for the instant gratification of tax cuts that are not only irresponsible, but dangerous. In reality the best tax cut we can give to all Americans is keeping interest rates low by paying down our debt. Reducing our national debt will provide a tax cut for millions of Americans because it will restrain interest rates, thereby saving them money on variable mortgages, new mortgages, auto loans, credit card payments, etc. Each percentage point increase in interest rates would mean an extra $200-$250 billion in mortgage costs to Americans. Paying down the national debt will protect future generations from an increasing tax burden to pay interest on the debt run up by current generations. More than 25% of individual income taxes go to paying interest on our national debt. Every dollar of lower debt saves MORE than one dollar in taxes for future generations. Secure a prosperous future by paying down the debt and saying no to fiscally reckless tax cuts. ____________________