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Washington D.C.- Republican Study Committee members expressed outrage after Ways & Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-NY) and House Democrats introduced legislation that will raise taxes on hard working Americans by over $1.3 trillion. That money belongs to taxpayers, not Washington, and is essential for families who can use it to send their children to college, to pay their health care premiums, be able to cope with higher gas prices, to launch their American dream and invest in small businesses.
RSC members Wally Herger (R-CA), Tom Feeney (R-FL), Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA), and Randy Neugebauer (R-TX) issued the following statements a short time ago:
Herger Statement:
“The AMT was created nearly 40 years ago to catch 155 millionaires who were avoiding any taxes. Now it's threatening to ensnare 23 million mostly middle-class taxpayers. Trading one gigantic tax increase on the American people for another gigantic tax increase is just wrong. We should repeal the AMT outright without raising taxes. The Taxpayer Choice Act would accomplish this, and make our tax system simpler, fairer and more pro-growth. Individuals and families deserve the choice between an increasingly complex and burdensome tax code and a straight forward, easy to understand flat-rate alternative.”
Feeney Statement:
"It is immoral to raise taxes on middle class families when they are increasingly burdened by property taxes and mortgage rates. Liberals are already wasting entirely too much of our hard-earned money in Washington. Until Congress can regain their trust, hardworking taxpayers should fight tooth and nail before they send one more penny to Uncle Sam for Woodstock Museums and Bridges to Nowhere. I will work hard to protect the wallets of middle class families from the tax-and-spend beltway liberals who don't know the first thing about balancing a budget."
Westmoreland Statement:
“I want to thank Chairman Rangel for unveiling the true, big-ticket cost to families for the Democrats’ 10-month spending spree. Rangel says he wants the ‘Mother of All Tax Reforms,’ giving a bad name to ‘mothers’ and to ‘reforms.’ What we have here is the ‘Evil Step-Mother of Tax Hikes.’ Republican tax cuts have fueled our economy and led to record-high federal revenues. Yes, we need to improve our tax system but good mothers and good reforms aren’t punitive or counter-productive.”
Neugebauer Statement:
“Our current tax system picks winners and losers and Congress must address and correct this system. While Republicans have offered several solutions to overhaul our tax system, they have been prematurely dismissed by the Majority.
“Time and again, tax cuts have show to grow the economy. I firmly believe that the folks back home know how to spend their money better than the federal government. It is time to stop funding the federal government when it is clear the Majority has no intentions for fiscal restraint. To propose trillion dollar tax increase, is reckless, unfair to the taxpayers and will only send our currently strong economy into a downward spiral.
Only in Washington would someone come up with the idea to lower taxes by raising them.”
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The Republican Study Committee has introduced The Taxpayer Choice Act, a comprehensive, individual income tax reform initiative with two principal goals:
- eliminating massive future tax increases by repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax; and;
- providing individuals a choice for an alternative tax system that is transparent, simple and efficient.
The AMT was created in 1969 by Congress to target 155 people who were eligible for tax benefits that resulted in their paying little or no federal income tax. Today, the "tax-the-rich" policy intended to penalize 155 people has spiraled so out of control that, if ignored in the next few months, it will hit 25 million hard-working middle class American families. In 1999, the GOP-controlled Congress passed a full repeal of the AMT, which President Bill Clinton swiftly vetoed.
Unlike any other AMT reforms offered to date, the RSC plan will not increase taxes for ANY American and will retain a fair and equitable distribution of federal tax burdens. The RSC plan offers a choice: taxpayers can choose the new system or stay with the current tax code. They have the freedom to select the option that best suits their particular circumstances.
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