Issues
A STRONGER ECONOMY:
The measure of a strong economy is a growing middle-class where every American has a chance to work and an opportunity to succeed.
In America, a rising tide is supposed to lift all boats. But today, Americans are working harder, earning less, and paying more for health care, college and taxes. Corporate profits are soaring, the government keeps expanding, but the opportunities for our middle-class are shrinking.
I believe that we're stronger when we create good-paying jobs here at home - not shipping them overseas. I believe we should reward hardworking middle-class families with tax breaks, not larger bills. For this reason I have introduced legislation which strengthens the earned income tax credit which provides needed assistance to low-income working families. We should expand the reach of opportunity, not the size of government. And we should lead an America where we work together to invest in the jobs of tomorrow.
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We should eliminate abusive corporate tax loopholes. Earlier this year, I introduced S. 2775, the Fair Share Act of 2008 which was enacted as part of the Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-245). This legislation ends the practice of U.S. defense contractors setting up sham corporations in tax havens in order to avoid their share of Social Security and Medicare taxes. In addition, I introduced S. 2199, the Offshore Deferred Compensation Reform Act of 2007, which ends the practice of hedge fund managers and corporate CEOs from deferring unlimited amounts of compensation offshore. This legislation closes an inequity in the tax code which allows U.S. based hedge fund mangers who operate offshore investment funds to defer unlimited amounts of compensation offshore while most Americans are limited to the amount of income that they can defer in a retirement account.
We should reform the tax code. We need to make it equitable and we need to make it radically simpler. In 1940, instructions to the Form 1040 were about 4 pages long. Today the instruction booklet fills more than 100 pages, accompanied by more than 10 schedules and 20 worksheets. It’s time we end the “separate and unequal” system that taxes money earned by wealth so much more favorably than it does money earned by work.
We also need to make tough choices, fight wasteful spending and spend tax dollars effectively. If we're going to get the deficit under control and get Washington in line with the priorities and values of the American people, we've got to be willing to take on excessive spending and that is why I support a constitutional line item veto.
In the last seven years, the federal budget has gone from record surpluses to record deficits - which, if left unchecked, can become a fiscal cancer that will erode any recovery and threaten the prospect of a lasting prosperity. Restoring fiscal responsibility in Washington matters to everyone who cares about our future. That�s why the Democratic leadership passed a �Pay as You Go� measure, which requires us to pay for new entitlement spending and tax cuts. It�s time to make tough choices today, so we do not pass on an even greater debt burden to our children tomorrow.
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