"Mr. Speaker,

this tax was included in the massive 1993 tax

hike," he said. "The purpose of this

tax increase was to `reduce the deficit' during

the time period when the old Congressional

majority was regularly passing deficit-driven

budgets that far outspent each year's tax

receipts. Since that time, the Republican

majority has taken action to balance the budget

so that today the federal government is running a

positive cash flow. The end of annual deficits

should mean the end of `deficit-reduction'

taxes."

With world oil

prices climbing and experts predicting that the

price of gasoline will rise to least $2 a gallon,

Collins said, American families need help.

"And this is the kind of tax relief that

will help working families the most," he

added in his remarks.

Collins' bill is a

continuation of his opposition to the tax. In

1993, Collins opposed the entire tax hike package

of which the gasoline tax was a part.

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