Schock Advocates for Tax Reform on House Floor
Vote Preventing Tax Hike Passes House
Washington,
Aug 2 -
Washington, DC – Congressman Aaron Schock (R-IL) spoke on the House floor today in support of extending all tax rates for one year while the House Ways and Means committee, on which he serves, completes comprehensive tax reform in 2013. Schock has been a vocal advocate in pushing Congress to take up comprehensive tax reform. Since joining the Ways and Means committee in January 2011, the committee has held 23 hearings on individual and corporate tax reform.
Click here to read more about Congressman Schock's effort to pass comprehensive tax reform and prevent taxing from increasing at the end of the year.
Aaron Speaking on the House Floor -
click the image to watch his speech |
CONGRESSMAN SCHOCK’S REMARKS AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY
Well, here we are again, 20 months removed since December 2010 when we last had this debate, 20 months removed from when the President, 91 current House Democrat Members and 39 sitting Senate Democrats agreed our economy couldn’t survive a new round of tax increases. 20 months removed from unemployment of 8.9%, quarterly GDP growth of 2.5%, and from a president who proclaimed it wasn’t wise policy to raise taxes during a recession.
Well, what has changed Mr. Speaker…not much. Unemployment is still over 8%, GDP growth has actually worsened to 1.5% and politicians and presidents from both sides of the aisle are once again saying it is not wise economic policy to increase taxes.
Yet one thing has changed. Earlier this summer the President reversed his decision, decided our economy has undergone some sort of significant improvement, and called for massive tax increases on American small businesses. A call which Senate Democrats responded to and which, according to independent analysis, would shrink our economy by 1.3.
The rhetoric used to advocate for increasing taxes by the other side is the same populist grandstanding we have been hearing for years … “everyone needs to pay their fair share”, “we need to increase taxes on millionaires”, “only 3% of our nation’s small businesses will be affected”…we’ve heard it all before.
The late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan once famously said, “Everyone is entitled to his opinion, but everyone is not entitled to his own facts”. Just like before, none of the claims made by my friends on the other side are supported by fact…but instead only by campaign commercial made opinions.
Here are the actual facts if taxes are increased on filers above $250,000:
• According the Joint Committee on Taxation 940,000 small businesses would be subjected to higher taxes
• 53% of all small business income would be hit with higher taxes
• We would have 710,000 fewer jobs as a nation….30,000 fewer in Illinois alone
• And investments paying out dividends, income which many of our nation’s seniors depend on for their livelihood, could go as high as 40%.
Simply put, there is no bigger “pants on fire” lie than when the President proclaims his proposed tax increases would only affect 3% of our nation’s small business. Such math weighs the “small businessman” who sells his old college books on Amazon, on the same page as the 70% of all US manufacturers who are organized as pass-through entities….the same as the small business with 200 employees who is looking to hire more.
The decision is clear—either vote NO on both H.R. 8 & H.R. 6169 to follow the President & Senate Democrats vision to cost our economy upwards of 710,000 jobs, further stifle growth and punish our nation’s most profitable small businesses who are responsible for creating 7 out of every 10 new jobs.
Or, alternatively vote YES on both proposals to extend the Bush-Obama tax rates for another year and set the Ways & Means Committee on an expedited path towards tax reform. Reform which we have held over 20 hearings on and where we heard from countless employers about what a disincentive to invest in our country the tax code has become. And reform which independent analysis suggests will create 1 million jobs in the first year alone.
Just remember, this President was for an extension of the Bush-Obama rates, before he was against it. Support H.R. 6169, thank you, I yield back
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