[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 34 (Wednesday, March 13, 1996)] [House] [Page H2129] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] GENERATIONAL ACCOUNTING ASKS: WHO IS GOING TO PAY THE BILL? (Mr. LARGENT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.) Mr. LARGENT. Mr. Speaker, I came to the House with one speech in hand to give but I feel compelled to give another. I just came from a committee meeting of the House Budget Committee where we talked about generational accounting. I just want to say that we have heard many passionate pleas from the other side of the aisle about how we cannot reduce spending, we cannot cut funds in education, in the environment, so on and so forth. The bottom line is, who is going to pay that bill? It is going to be many of the young people sitting in the House Chamber at this very moment that are going to have to pay that bill. Generational accounting does this. It says if we continue the current policies that we have in place today, what will the tax rate be on the future generations, my children and my grandchildren? Those experts that testified before that committee said this: that children that are born today will face an effective tax rate of 84 percent over their lifetime if we continue current policies. Yes, we have tough decisions that we have to make, but it truly is about the future of our country and the future of our children. Just imagine yourself keeping 16 cents of every dollar you earn in the future if we do not make these tough decisions. ____________________