Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993

Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993

The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, also called the Deficit Reduction Act, modestly raised taxes and succeeded in wiping out the federal budget deficit for the first time in decades.

The bill added two higher taxes brackets: individual income tax rates of 36 percent and 39.6 (previously 31 percent had been the highest bracket). The bill included a 35 percent income tax rate for corporations and 4.3 cents per gallon increase in transportation fuels taxes.

Cry Wolf Quotes

The Clinton tax hikes on income would have a devastating impact on long-term economic growth. In particular, the increase in the tax burden would reduce savings and investment, thus hampering the economy’s capacity to generate new jobs and higher wages. Specifically, higher tax rates on income would punish productive economic activity, reduce tax revenues, lead to increased federal spending and higher budget deficits, reduce job creation and penalize small business.

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The Heritage Foundation

This budget calls for new taxes on gasoline and on Social Security, and yet President Clinton as a candidate condemned such taxes. Supporters say this budget reduces spending and will begin to get a handle on the national debt, yet even the President acknowledges that under this budget Federal spending will actually increase more than 20 percent over the next 5 years. And worse, the national debt will actually grow by $1 billion a day. But most importantly, this budget is a job killer-pure and simple.

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Bob Franks (R-NJ), Congressional Record

But, I will tell you, this program will not give you deficit reduction. It will be a disaster for the performance of the economy because of the repressive impact of these taxes and, of course, the possible inflationary impact of the taxes, along with the labor-cost-increasing mandates that are already a part of the president's agenda.

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Rep. Dick Armey, CNN.

This is really the Dr. Kevorkian plan for our economy. It will kill jobs, kill businesses, and yes, kill even the higher tax revenues that these suicidal tax increasers hope to gain.

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Rep. Thomas Ewing (R-IL), Congressional Record.

Evidence