At the beginning of the 21 st century, I believe employee stock options will make it possible for working and middle-income Americans to become greater stakeholders in our free enterprise system. Someone once said that the problem with socialism is socialism, and the problem with capitalism is capitalists. That may be. But it seems to me that the only problem with capitalists is that there aren't enough of them. Today we are going to look at the tax treatment of stock option plans under current law and what, if anything, needs to be done to strengthen incentives for employers to offer them to a broader base of employees.
Free enterprise is strong in America today because it has offered security to so many.
It seems obvious to me that the next step in broadening the base of our free enterprise system, is to allow for more working men and women to own stock in the companies where they work. I am pleased to recognize our senior Democrat on our subcommittee, Mr. Coyne, for an opening statement.