| Washington, D.C.— Congressman Steve King today voted in support of H.R. 5140, the Recovery Rebates and Economic Stimulus for the American People Act of 2008. The bill would provide 116 million Americans with between $300 and $600 in tax rebates later this year. The bill would also provide small businesses with greater ability to expense certain equipment purchases and would allow all businesses to depreciate new equipment more quickly. A final piece of the bill would increase the size of home loans that the Federal Housing Administration and the Government-Sponsored Enterprises like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can take on.
While King supported passage of the bill, he warned that Congress had missed an opportunity to inject real growth into the American economy. King said, "Although I believe the business tax cuts contained in this bill will do much to encourage business expansion and job and economic growth, the rebates-based ‘stimulus’ will do little more than provide our economy with a ‘sugar high’."
"We have been down this road before. In 2001, we enacted a similar rebates-based stimulus package, and yet we failed to see sustained growth in our economy until we passed additional tax cuts in 2003—cuts in taxes like capital gains and dividends that were rightly aimed at encouraging investment. Until we make these tax cuts permanent, we will continue to see volatility."
"The antics of the Pelosi Congress have assured American business owners that their bottom line is at risk of the ever increasing tax bill that will follow the expansive increases in the size and scope of government that the liberals under Pelosi are working toward."
"We voted to spend upwards of $145 billion today to stimulate the economy, but once this sugar high wears off, we will have to come back and make the Bush tax cuts permanent to grow our economy in the long term, not just give it a quick shot in the arm."
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