Opening Statement of the Hon. Philip M. Crane, M.C., Illinois

Hearing on President's Tax Relief Proposals

February 13, 2001

Thank you Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Secretary, I want to welcome you for the first of what I hope will be many productive and collegial visits to our Committee. I think you have had a splendid start in your tenure as Secretary.

It will surprise no one, I am sure, when I say I support the President's program in its entirety. That said, I want to make just a very few points.

First, I want to recognize our friends from the other side of the aisle who have now joined the tax cut movement. After years of opposition, the question is no longer whether, but how much. I say that not in gloating, but in sincere appreciation.

Second, I want to point out that we are at this juncture because of forecasts of enormous surpluses. These surpluses represent property - the income and wealth of our citizens - that the federal government is taking without cause or need. The great American economist, Walter Williams, once captured the matter with the phrase -- "Taxation is theft." It is, to an extent, a necessary theft. But when it produces enormous surpluses, it becomes far less a necessity and far more theft. And it is irrelevant against whom this theft is committed.

Third, we hear how these surplus projections are uncertain. Indeed, they are. In recent years we have seen the projected surplus rise by a half trillion dollars or so every six months. I submit that recent experience tells us the uncertainty goes in both directions. The surpluses are more likely to turn out to be larger than forecast, not smaller.

Fourth, we can reinforce our confidence in the projected surpluses if we reduce spending in some areas. After the last few years of bi-partisan profligacy, with discretionary spending increasing over 18 percent in the past three years alone, no one can argue with a straight face that spending restraint is not in order. Further, if we hold the line on spending, then there is no doubt there will be a second and a third tax cut bill in this Congress.

Finally, I do not know if we can enact this program quickly enough to shorten the downturn in the economy. If we had enacted significant tax relief last year, we might have avoided the downturn altogether, but that is water under the bridge. I do know that sound tax policies such as the rate reductions in President Bush's plan will assure us a stronger economy in the future. As the recent downturn has indicated, and as the decade-long troubles of the once high-flying Japanese economy underscore, we must never take prosperity for granted.

Mr. Secretary, I pledge to you today to work with you to enact the President's plan in its entirety with all the dispatch the legislative process can muster.