Disclose Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, I come to the floor at this point to counteract and add substance to something the majority leader said today in regard to taxes.

Recently, the Congressional Budget Office released an update to its report on average effective tax rates. Several of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have pounced on this report claiming that tax rates are at historic lows.

In a floor speech just this morning the majority leader said the lowest tax rates in 30 years was ``thanks to President Obama, who has consistently fought to lower taxes for the middle-class families over the last 3 1/2 years.'' However, the majority leader and others of his political party are only telling half the story. The report also shows that incomes of households in all income groups have declined by an average of 12 percent since 2007. This means, then, that Americans are 12 percent poorer than they were in 2007.

Now, should we also thank President Obama for this reduction in income? Essentially, this is what the majority leader is doing when he thanks President Obama for lower tax rates because when individuals have less income, they pay less in taxes. Now, isn't that common sense?

Millions of Americans are out of work and have very little or no income. You would have better luck getting blood out of a turnip than collecting income taxes from someone who has no income.

Over the past weeks and months we have heard a lot about income inequality. Occupy Wall Street has been very vocal on this issue. Many Members of Congress have also expressed concern that income inequality is ever increasing. The Finance Committee, of which I am a member, just recently had a hearing on this very topic. This most recent CBO data shows that income inequality is at the lowest point in more than a decade. The share of income held by the top 1 percent has shrunk by 28 percent. At the same time, the bottom 60 percent of households saw their share of income increase by an average 11 percent.

So perhaps my friends on the other side of the aisle do have reason to cheer: The rich are much less rich but, of course, the poor are poorer as well. It is just that those in the lower incomes did not see their income shrink by as much as higher income people.

Of course, those in the bottom 60 percent of households are not better off today than they were when income inequality was greater. In fact, they are poorer and struggling more than ever. So I just hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle keep that in mind as we try to create a better future, and do it for everyone.

Reduction in income inequality should not be a goal in and of itself. What really matters is individual well-being and opportunity for everybody to succeed. This is best achieved, then, through progrowth policies aimed at growing the economic pie, not by targeting certain unpopular groups for tax hikes.

Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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