For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
February 3, 2001
Radio Address by the President to the Nation
Listen to the President's
Remarks
THE
PRESIDENT: Good morning. This coming week I will
send to Congress my tax relief plan. It is broad and
responsible. It will help our economy, and it is the right
thing to do.
Today many
Americans are feeling squeezed. They work 40,
50, 60 hours a week, and still have trouble paying the electric bill
and the grocery bill at the same time. At the end of a long
week, they collect their paycheck, and what the federal government
takes is often unfair.
Picture a
diner in one of our cities. At the table is a lawyer with
two children. She earns $250,000 a year. Carrying
her coffee and toast is a waitress who has two children of her
own. She earns $25,000 a year. If both the lawyer
and the waitress get a raise, it is the waitress who winds up paying a
higher marginal tax rate. She will give back almost half of
every extra dollar she earns to the government.
Both of
these women, the lawyer and the waitress, deserve a tax
cut. Under my plan, both of these women, and all Americans
who pay taxes will get one. For the waitress, our plan will
wipe out her income tax bill entirely.
My plan
does some important things for America. It reduces taxes for
everyone who pays taxes. It lowers the lowest income tax
rate from 15 percent to 10 percent. It cuts the highest rate
to 33 percent, because I believe no one should pay more than a third of
their income to the federal government. The average family
of four will get about $1,600 of their own money returned back to
them.
There's a
lot of talk in Washington about paying down the national debt, and
that's good, and that's important. And my budget will do
that. But American families have debts to pay, as
well. A tax cut now will stimulate our economy and create
jobs.
The
economic news these days is troubling -- rising energy prices, layoffs,
falling consumer confidence. This is not a time for
government to be taking more money than it needs away from the people
who buy goods and create jobs.
My plan
will keep all Social Security money in the Social Security system,
where it belongs. We will eliminate the death tax, saving
family farms and family-owned businesses. We'll reduce the
maximum rate on small business income to 33 percent, so they can help
create the jobs we need. Above all, my plan unlocks the door
to the middle class for millions of hardworking Americans.
The country
has prospered mightily over the past 20 years. But a lot of
people feel as if they have been looking through the window at somebody
else's party. It is time to fling those doors and windows
open and invite everybody in. It is time to reward the work
of people trying to enter the middle class and put some more money in
their pockets at a time when they need it.
My tax
reduction plan does all these things, and I hope you'll support
it. Thank you for listening.
END
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