Gerlach votes to protect nearly 1 million small business owners and all taxpayers from looming tax hikes
Washington
Congressman Jim Gerlach (PA-6th District) voted on Wednesday to stop a looming tax hike that independent analysts have found would hurt hundreds of thousands of American workers and hammer small business owners at a time when the national unemployment rate has stayed above 8 percent for 41 consecutive months.
The House voted 256 to 171 to pass H.R. 8, the proposed Job Protection and Recession Prevention Act. The bill, which 19 House Democrats supported, goes to the Senate for consideration.
If Congress and the President fail to act, tax rates on all taxpayers are scheduled to increase on January 1. That would mean the Internal Revenue Service would collect an extra $2,200 next year from a family of four with annual income of $50,000.
"To get America growing again, we need to allow all families and businesses to keep more of the money they work hard every day to earn, not tax hikes that simply fuel wasteful Washington spending sprees," Gerlach said after the vote. "Independent analysts, and even President Obama, have said that you should not raise taxes during a recession.
“Ultimately, we have a choice to make. Do we continue on a path of unsustainable government spending and more costly red tape that has produced an economy that grew at just 1.5 percent in the second quarter of this year? Or do we want to stand with American families and small business owners to put in place pro-growth policies and make fundamental reforms to our tax code that make the United States the greatest place to work and open a business? I would urge the Democrat leaders in the Senate to stop creating legislative logjams and pass this legislation to give business owners of all sizes the confidence and certainty needed to start hiring and thriving once again.”
Just two years ago when President Obama signed into law a two-year extension of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for everyone, he said: "You don't raise taxes in a recession, which is why we haven't and why we've instead cut taxes..."
However, the President and Democrat leaders in the U.S. Senate now want to raise tax rates on top-income earners. They have pushed a plan to raise taxes on individuals earning $200,000 or more per year and couples making $250,000 or more annually.
What would happen if supporters of a plan to raise the top tax rates get their way?
- 710,000 Americans would lose their jobs and workers paychecks would shrink by 1.8 percent over time, according to a recently released study by respected accounting firm Ernst & Young.
- 940,000 small businesses would be hit with a tax hike, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT). And small businesses have created 65 percent of net new jobs over the past 17 years, figures from the Small Business Administration show.
- 24,200 more farms and 21,700 more small businesses would be subject to the federal estate tax, which is commonly-referred to as the death tax, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.
# # #
