Hatch Highlights Benefits of New Tax Law on Six-Month Anniversary

In a Speech on Senate Floor, Utah Senator Says, “…As business investment and productivity pick up due to higher expected after-tax returns from investment, wage growth, too, will continue to pick up…More than ever before, Americans can expect things to be better tomorrow than they are today.”

Click here to watch Hatch give remarks on the Senate Floor.

WASHINGTON – In a speech on the U.S. Senate Floor today, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) marked the six-month anniversary of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act becoming law by emphasizing the benefits of the largest tax overhaul in more than 30 years.

“Recent polls by the National Association of Manufacturers, the Business Roundtable, Gallup, and the National Federation of Independent Businesses show that optimism and plans to expand hiring and growth for businesses of all sorts and sizes are at all-time highs,” Hatch said. “And this optimism along with lower costs of increasing investments and doing business has already started to result in real changes for the middle class. Take for example, the list of more than 100 different utility companies that have cut their rates across the country.”

Hatch continued, “And, as business investment and productivity pick up due to higher expected after-tax returns from investment, wage growth, too, will continue to pick up.  All told, these changes are creating a paradigm shift. More than ever before, Americans can expect things to be better tomorrow than they are today. Personally, I’m more excited than ever for my great-grandchildren. And I’m grateful to everyone who has made this possible. After all, major tax reform like this is truly a once-in-a-generation opportunity for all of us.”

Hatch’s full remarks can be found below:

Mme. President, I rise today in celebration of the six month anniversary of passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Now, I know that there were a lot of remarks about the benefits of tax cuts right out of the gate, but, many of the benefits from the reform of the old, broken, and outdated tax code will accumulate over the long-run.

So I want to rise today to talk about some of the benefits from the new tax code that can be witnessed by hard working families, right now.

For example, the typical family of four making the median family income of around $75,000 a year is right in the middle of the first year of our tax cuts. And those typical families are going to see their taxes cut by more than half.

We also doubled the child tax credit and expanded its refundability to benefit more working families.

The tax code also makes filing taxes easier and more straightforward for the typical middle class family. That’s because the standard deduction was nearly doubled.

Taken all together, provisions like these are the reason the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation found that the overall distribution of the new tax bill is directed toward the middle class.

And this is happening everywhere.  Take my home state of Utah, for example.

According to some recent numbers from the Tax Foundation, citizens of Utah can expect, on average, a tax cut of nearly $1,500, or 2.4 percent of their income. Take advantage of those hundreds of dollars and start paying off your car a little sooner. Maybe go out to see a baseball game. Or take your family on a road trip to see some of the beautiful National Parks throughout our country.

All of those things are now that much more possible because of tax reform. But those direct tax cuts are just a part of the larger picture ushered in by tax reform.

More broadly, tax reform has provided a shot in the arm to a long-ailing economy. After cutting the corporate rate from 35 to 21 percent, businesses have been able to reinvest, build new facilities, hire new workers, and start innovating more than ever.

Recent polls by the National Association of Manufacturers, the Business Roundtable, Gallup, and the National Federation of Independent Businesses show that optimism and plans to expand hiring and growth for businesses of all sorts and sizes are at all-time highs.

And this optimism along with lower costs of increasing investments and doing business has already started to result in real changes for the middle class. Take for example, the list of more than 100 different utility companies that have cut their rates across the country.

According to one compilation, the American people are on track to pocket more than $2.8 billion just this year off those savings. Now, some might also argue that this is a normal period of expansion and growth in the economy. But as one journalist recently noted tax reform has poured “jet-fuel” on a growing economy.

According to the most recent reports in June, the total number of workers receiving unemployment benefits is running at the lowest levels in 44 years, and that is just in terms of numbers of people drawing unemployment benefits, not even taking into account the massive population growth since December 1973. 

For the first time since record-keeping began in 2000, the number of available positions exceeded the number of job seekers according to the information from the Department of Labor. And this is just the initial boost. I tend to think that positive economic outcomes are most often created by hard work and good policy, like our tax reform package.

That’s why activity in the labor market has been especially robust, with more than 1 million jobs already created in this year alone.

That’s why wage growth has been trending upward. And that’s why business investment has been robust. More Americans now have access to more of their own hard-earned money.

And as Republicans predicted, we’re already seeing the middle class and the economy generally benefit.

Now, mark my words, Mme. President, there is a lot more growth we should anticipate coming down the pipe as more and more people start to realize how much tax reform actually affects their family, their business, their communities, and the country as a whole.

And, as business investment and productivity pick up due to higher expected after-tax returns from investment, wage growth, too, will continue to pick up.  All told, these changes are creating a paradigm shift. More than ever before, Americans can expect things to be better tomorrow than they are today.

Personally, I’m more excited than ever for my great-grandchildren. And I’m grateful to everyone who has made this possible. After all, major tax reform like this is truly a once-in-a-generation opportunity for all of us.

Just six months in, we have seen so many positive results from the tax reform that the list is too long to cover in just one speech.

And, make no mistake, the list of positives from tax reform for American families and businesses will continue to grow longer.

With that, Mme. President, I yield the floor.

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