Finance Committee Members Talk Tax Reform at Conference Committee Hearing

Republicans are on the cusp of enacting pro-family, pro-growth tax reform that will provide middle-class tax relief and grow the economy. Yesterday, Finance Committee members joined their House colleagues to discuss the Senate- and House-passed versions of H.R. 1, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, during a conference committee meeting. Senate Republicans praised the proposals, emphasizing the impact tax reform would have on increasing wages, creating jobs, and bringing investment back from overseas.

Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) on middle-class tax cuts:

“We are very close to producing legislation that will lower individual tax rates across the board and give the largest portion of tax cuts to middle-class families. We are very close to giving working, middle-class families additional help in the form of larger paychecks, an expanded child tax credit, and a simplified system where more than nine in ten taxpayers will be able to entirely avoid the complex and time-consuming process of itemizing their deductions.”

U.S. Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) on modernizing the tax code:

“It is past time for us to act to modernize our tax code so that our nation can remain competitive in a 21st century economy…Our current code is an outdated mess that is hurting American workers and holding our economy back. That is why we need tax reform that will ensure the competitive footing of our businesses, make our system simpler and fairer, and allow people to keep more of what they earn.”

U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) on achieving comprehensive tax reform:

“Not only have we passed comprehensive tax reform in both of our respective chambers, we’ve also done it in a way that will help all Americans…We reject this idea that America cannot do any better than the status quo, which seems to be the attitude of our colleagues across the aisle.”

U.S. Senator John Thune (R-S.D.) on what tax reform would mean in South Dakota:

“And so, if you look at what that impact is on a typical family in South Dakota…a family of four with a combined annual income of $73,000 a year. Under the Senate bill – and I think the House bill, as we merge them together, will be very similar – that family will get a $2,200 tax cut, which represents a 60 percent reduction over what they’re paying under current law.”

U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) on boosting middle-class paychecks:

“[T]hat middle-class squeeze is real. So middle-class tax cuts are appropriate. And that’s in this bill…[T]he proof is in the paycheck. People are going to see it. They’re going to see it in January if this thing passes. And that’s real.”

U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) on economic growth:

“It’s really a very dramatic tax reform; it’s a restructuring of our tax incentives that is going to encourage a huge increase in invested capital. Invested capital—what that means is business putting money to work buying equipment, buying vehicles, buying machinery, buying the kinds of tools that allow them to grow the productive capacity of their business. All of those things require workers to build and require workers to operate. That’s why this is going to put increased demand on wages and when you do that at a time when unemployment is something on the order of four percent, you necessarily put upward pressure on wages, bring people back into the workforce, and what we are going to do with this bill is we are going to make sure--it is going to happen—that labor is going to have an increasing share of the wealth this country produces because of the demands we are going to put for additional workers.”

U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) on what tax reform would mean for single parents:“So many of our friends and family members feel like they’re invisible. This tax reform process is an opportunity for us to say to them: We hear you…The average single mom makes around 41 thousand dollars a year and when we talk about tax reform with that single mom, we’re talking about cutting her tax burden by 75 percent.”

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