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9/22/00
Dick
Gephardt: Enemy of the Taxpayer
WASHINGTON-
Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) recently announced that Rep. Dick Gephardt
(D-Mo.) earned an "Enemy of the Taxpayer" award.
This award is given to members of Congress who score below
20% on ATR's annual ratings.
Rep.
Gephardt has received this award every year since ATR began it's tax
ratings. On key issues
affecting taxpayers such as the marriage penalty and estate taxes
Rep. Gephardt has shown blatant disregard for the needs of working
families.
Rep.
Gephardt claims his constituents disapprove of a "chocolate cake"
marriage penalty tax cut because they fear that families in lower
income brackets will not benefit and he asserts that he goes "door
to door in my district" and that "people talk to me about all kinds
of issues" and "they would like the tax relief limited and targeted
at them."
Interestingly,
Gephardt has not lived in Missouri for 20 years and now resides in
Virginia and receives less than 6% of his campaign support from Missourians.
"It
seems like Gephardt spends too much time fundraising in Hollywood
and too little time voting,"
remarked Grover Norquist, president of ATR.
"His 'door
to door' interaction with his constituents seems highly improbable."
Rep.
Gephardt's position on the marriage penalty tax clearly hurts the
low income families in his district.
The earned income tax credit for low-income families would
have increased by $2,000 per year if the marriage penalty bill had
passed, and would have expanded the bottom 15% income tax bracket
for married couples.
Gephardt's
position on the estate tax cut is equally anti-taxpayer.
Gephardt maintains the Death Tax Elimination Act of 2000 "offers
almost no tax relief for the middle class" yet only 3 percent of family
businesses qualify for the alternative he favors.
According to the Joint Economic Committee of the United States
Congress, the death tax "raises very little, if any net revenue for
the federal government" resulting in a reduced stock of capital in
the U.S. economy of $497 billion, or 3.2%.
