On the Senate Floor, Portman Celebrates America’s Move to the New Tax Code, Highlights Benefits of Tax Reform
Said Portman in the speech, "I'm excited to be here today to say this is the last day we'll have to file under the old tax code--but also to say the new tax code is helping to give families I represent the opportunity to do a little better, to give businesses I represent the opportunity to be more competitive and reinvest in their employees and business and productivity. That will make the biggest difference in the tax reform effort."
Transcript of his remarks can be found below and a video can be found here (https://youtu.be/fs-DnUZkoWM).
"I just got the chance to hear my colleague from
"Why is that important? Because it's simpler--it doubles the standard deduction as an example, which is a great simplification for a lot of taxpayers. It also takes about three million people off the tax rolls altogether. Think about that: according to the
"Why? Because it focuses on lowering the rates, doubling the standard deduction, doubling the child tax credit. That helps people who are lower-income Americans who right now have tax liability who won't in the future. So it will be easier for a lot of people a year from now because they will have no tax filing to make because they won't have any tax liability, and for others it's just a simpler form.
"Although what's happening already this year is that the paychecks are changing. Why? Because the
"So even though this is the last time that we are going to have to file under the old code, already people are seeing some of the benefits of tax reform. When I go around
"The average in
"Most people I represent live paycheck to paycheck. Most people I represent think
"This is something that is actually affecting people right now. As you go to the Post Office to mail your form today or as you send it in electronically, just know it's going to get a little bit better, a little simpler, a little less tax liability. By the way, the
"So we do need to ensure that the
"So tax reform and tax relief are very important, but also as we have seen today with this glitch with regard to electronic filing, we have to be sure that the
"The tax relief bill wasn't just for families and individuals. It also focuses on business relief. Why? Because we know that American companies were not competitive under the old code. You had investment going overseas, jobs going overseas. So for small businesses and large businesses alike, there is tax relief. We're hearing more about that because we have seen a lot of headlines, another one today about yet another major company that is making some investments here in this country.
"I was at
"That's nice because people can save more for their retirement. They talked about helping employees who had a tough time through an employee assistance program. They're increasing funding for that program. They are talking about applying an employee discount program so employees can buy more from their home stores, expanding how much they can buy with the discount. That helps their employees.
"But they also talked about something I thought was really great, which is continuous education, lifelong learning. They said that they are going to provide their employees with a
"This is part of how they are using the tax reform. By the way, it's applicable to everybody who has been there six months. You can be part-time or full-time. You can get this employee assistance for education, all coming from the tax relief that this body passed.
"Is it making a difference in the lives of your constituents? It certainly is in the lives of mine, I can tell you that. I have been to 13 different businesses now around the state of
"I have also had a half dozen roundtable discussions where I bring small-business owners together, and dozens of businesses have told me what they are doing. Some are providing more health care coverage, in a couple of cases. One is a small craft brewer in
"Others are doing much more in terms of the community charitable giving. Again, some with regard to 401(k)s, some with regard to new equipment and machines to make their employees more productive because when the economists look at what's going on in our economy, they think, 'gosh, the reason wages haven't gone up much in the last decade, and really it's been flat in
"This tax reform effort is providing more investment to our companies. I would much rather have people investing here in America than investing overseas. That's what was happening. Three times as many American companies were bought by foreign companies last year as the other way around because of our tax code. There is a study out by
"We have done studies on this to be able to show this. 4,700 companies had gone overseas that would have stayed American companies just over the last 13 years if we had the kind of tax reform we now have in place. Those companies now have an incentive to invest here. Foreign companies have incentive to invest here. When they are trying to decide between investing in
"There's some new information out from the
"Guess what they are saying now? 3.3 percent, not two percent, but 3.3 percent economic growth were the projections for this year. Again, they say this is attributable to the pro-growth policies, including the tax reform effort we're talking about and the tax cuts. They also say for the first time in a long time we're seeing wages going up. They project wages up. Look at last month and the month before and you can see the wages start to creep back up again. That's really exciting to me because ultimately we want to see economic growth, yes, but we really want to see working families get a higher income so they are not stuck in the middle-class squeeze where their income is flat but their expenses are up. The biggest expense that has been increasing is health care. Yes, we have to do more on health care and do more to increase economic growth. Wouldn't it be good to have wages go up to be able to compensate for that, and to be able to give people this sense that if they do the right things in life, if they are willing to work hard, if they are willing to play by the rules, they can get ahead and their kids and grandkids can get ahead too.
"I'm excited to be here today to say this is the last day we'll have to file under the old tax code--but also to say the new tax code is helping to give families I represent the opportunity to do a little better, to give businesses I represent the opportunity to be more competitive and reinvest in their employees and business and productivity. That, ultimately, will make the biggest difference in the tax reform effort."
Reps. Culberson, Quigley, Ruppersberger, Sens. Durbin, Rubio, Duckworth Introduce Bill to Help Homeowners and Businesses Prevent Flood Damage
Ernst, Grassley Lead Members of Iowa Delegation in Letter Urging CMS to Repeal Guidance Hindering Iowa’s Individual Market
Advisor News
Annuity News
Health/Employee Benefits News
Life Insurance News