May 15, 1995 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD— SENATE S6647 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The 

clerk will call the roll. 

The legislative clerk proceeded to 

call the roll. 

Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, I ask 

unanimous consent that the order for 

the quorum call be rescinded. 

Mrs. MURRAY. I object. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard. 

Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, again, I 

ask unanimous consent that the order 

for the quorum call be rescinded. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there 

objection? Without objection, it is so 

ordered. The Senator from Minnesota 

is recognized. 

f 

MINNESOTA TAX FREEDOM DAY 

Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, yesterday, on May 14, 1995, Minnesotans 

marked two annual occasions: one that 

millions of families look forward to 

each year, and one that millions of 

Minnesota taxpayers await with a mixture of anger and frustration. 

First and foremost, of course, was 

Mother’s Day, the day we all honor our 

mothers for the love and support they 

have given us. 

The second, less well-known but 

equally significant event was Minnesota Tax Freedom Day, the day Minnesotans quit working to pay taxes at 

the Federal, State, and local levels of 

government and begin working for 

themselves. Every dollar my constituents have earned so far this year has 

gone to pay taxes. For a total of 134 

days, Minnesotans have been working 

for the government; 85 of these days 

were spent paying off Federal taxes, 

while the remaining 49 days were spent 

paying off State and local taxes. 

Tax Freedom Day comes much later 

in the year to Minnesota than it does 

to the Nation at large, which means 

Minnesotans spend longer than most 

Americans working to pay off their tax 

bills. 

For the average American taxpayer, 

Tax Freedom Day is on May 6, but Minnesotans must work more than a week 

longer for Uncle Sam and his cousins 

at the State and local levels. 

My constituents are encumbered 

with the sixth highest tax rate in the 

country. The only States whose Tax 

Freedom Days come after Minnesota’s 

are Connecticut and New York, who 

both mark Tax Freedom Day on May 

24; Washington, DC, and New Jersey, on 

May 18; and Hawaii, on May 17. 

For 2 years, the tax load borne by 

Minnesotans has remained constant, 

and Tax Freedom Day has fallen on the 

same day, May 14. But sadly, a lot has 

changed since President Clinton’s 1993 

budget package. 

In 1993, Tax Freedom Day in Minnesota was May 9. In effect, the tax increases imposed in President Clinton’s 

1993 budget have forced Minnesotans to 

work an additional 5 days just to pay 

off those new taxes. 

These 5 days could have been spent 

on a family vacation, but there is no 

time for fun when you are working to 

pay off the Government’s spending 

splurges. 

The average per capita income of 

Minnesota is $24,403, 36.6 percent of 

which goes to pay taxes. 

Translated into dollar terms, the average annual tax bill for every Minnesota taxpayer this year will be $8,926, 

or over one-third of their hard-earned 

income. 

Americans face a veritable cornucopia of tax burdens in their day-today lives, overflowing with the income 

taxes and payroll taxes which represent the largest component of the average American’s tax bill. 

In addition to these more visible 

taxes, the cost of nearly all goods and 

services are inflated by sales and excise 

taxes. There are property taxes, estate 

and other business taxes, and let us not 

forget the corporate income taxes 

which are passed along to consumers 

and employees in the form of higher 

prices and lower wages. 

The perverse thing about our current 

progressive income tax system is that 

as national income increases, the tax 

burden increases along with it, more 

than proportionally. As a result, economic contractions tend to reduce 

American’s tax burden while economic 

expansions tend to increase it. 

It makes no sense that taxpayers 

should be penalized for robust economic growth by extracting more 

money from their paychecks. 

This is why I support tax cuts—real 

tax cuts—that help American families 

keep more of what they earn. The $500 

per child tax credit goes a long way toward that end. Middle-class families 

could save more, or they could spend 

more—they would be given the freedom 

to do whatever they want with their 

money because it belongs to them. 

We may never see Tax Freedom Day 

coincide with New Year’s Day or even 

Valentine’s Day, but let us face it: We 

are about to begin debate on a new 

budget resolution, one that can counteract the onerous effects of Clinton’s 

package of tax hikes 2 years ago. Let 

us not miss this opportunity to offer 

tax relief to America’s families. Let us 

ensure that Tax Freedom Day comes a 

lot earlier next year than it did last 

year. 

Mr. President, I yield the floor and 

suggest the absence of a quorum. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The 

clerk will call the roll. 

The legislative clerk proceeded to 

call the roll. 

Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I 

ask unanimous consent that the order 

for the quorum call be rescinded. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without 

objection, it is so ordered. 

f 

UNANIMOUS-CONSENT 

AGREEMENT—S. 395 

Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I 

ask unanimous consent that at 12 

o’clock noon the Senate turn to the 

consideration of calendar 101, S. 395 regarding the Alaska Power Administration. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without 

objection, it is so ordered. 

Mr. MURKOWSKI. I thank the Chair. 

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of 

a quorum. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The 

clerk will call the roll. 

The legislative clerk proceeded to 

call the roll. 

Mr. PRESSLER. Mr. President, I ask 

unanimous consent that the order for 

the quorum call be rescinded. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without 

objection, it is so ordered. 

The Senator from South Dakota is 

recognized. 

f 

THE BUDGET 

Mr. PRESSLER. Mr. President, there 

has been much discussion about the 

budget of the United States that will 

be brought to this floor by Senator 

DOMENICI and the Budget Committee 

soon. I believe strongly we must do 

something in this country or Medicare 

will go broke and our country will go 

broke. That is the alternative on one 

side. The alternative on the other side 

is to do something about it. 

Those are two rather grim alternatives. Because if we continue down 

the road with a $4.8 trillion debt in a 

$6.9 trillion economy, our money will 

soon become worthless. We are already 

seeing signs of this: the decline in the 

value of the dollar, particularly the unexplained collapse of the dollar against 

the yen and against the German mark. 

So something is wrong in our economy. 

In fact, I predict that at some point in 

the next 5 or 10 years we will have a 

cataclysmic event, economically 

speaking, in our country if we do not 

do something now about the Federal 

deficit. 

We also have learned that Medicare 

will go broke by the year 2002 unless 

something is done. I have been a champion of senior citizens. I would ask our 

senior citizens, would we rather have a 

Medicare system that is broke, or 

would we rather have one that is solvent even though we may have to make 

certain changes? So that is where we 

stand as a country, basically, with this 

budget coming to the floor. It is a historic turning point in our country’s 

history. We have to make a decision as 

to whether or not we are going to face 

up to the facts. 

We had a debate on this Senate floor 

about the balanced budget amendment 

recently. The Democrats pointed out 

that our side of the aisle had no plan. 

They said, what is your plan to balance 

the budget? We do have a plan. It is the 

Domenici plan that will come to this 

floor. It has a lot of cuts; some cuts I 

do not personally agree with, but I am 

going to support the Domenici budget 

plan, generally speaking, because in 

part it is the only game in town. 

The Democrats do not have a plan. 

Yet, they are criticizing our plan. That 

is unfortunate. The Democrats have 

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