Issue Position: Taxes

Issue Position

"Americans should not have to work harder today to maintain the same quality of life they had two or three years ago. Costs are rising but wages are not. We must ensure that middle class families are not hit with higher taxes. Instead we need to help families who are just getting started, families that need to save for college, and families who are approaching retirement by letting them keep their hard-earned money and letting them decide how to spend.

"Further, keeping taxes low creates jobs and lower the deficit. If nothing is done and the current plans in Congress are carried out, taxes will increase by nearly $3,000 per Washington family.

"Americans have the economic power, technological expertise and ingenuity to be leaders in this global economy. But is our government ready to help Americans lead? There are some people in Washington, DC who think we can tax and spend our way to a good economy. They have exactly the wrong approach. To ensure we remain competitive we need to unleash the power of our people. We need to empower entrepreneurs, investors and job creators by giving them the freedom to innovate. We must keep taxes low."

The Dave Reichert Lower-Tax Plan

* Keep the 2001 and 2003 Tax Cuts from being eliminated
* Maintain individual income tax cuts
* Maintain the per child tax credit
* Maintain elimination of the "marriage penalty" tax
* Continue dividend tax relief
* Continue capital gains tax relief
* Eliminate the Death Tax
* Maintain education tax credits, including for teachers who use their own money to buy classroom supplies
* Continue small-business tax credits
* Make permanent the R&D tax credit
* Make the State Sales Tax Deduction Permanent

Because Washington State has a state sales tax instead of an income tax our residents are at a disadvantage when it comes to paying their federal taxes. Without a change in federal law this could result in an average $3065 tax hike on Washingtonians. We must end stop-gap fixes and eliminate this unfair tax permanently.

* The 401Kids Family Savings Act
* Offer tax incentives to enable families to set aside up to $2000 annually in special tax-free accounts for their children's college education, for their first home purchase, or roll-over into a retirement savings account.

Tax Reform

Rather than continuing to do business as usual we should find a way to simplify the more than 44,000 page long IRS tax code to make it fair and simple for everyone.

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