Issue Position: Cutting Taxes and Creating Jobs

Issue Position

Issue Position: Cutting Taxes and Creating Jobs

Under the Republican-led Congress, we took significant actions to reduce the tax burden of millions of working families. Since 2001, four separate tax measures aimed at decreasing taxes for all working Americans and encouraging greater business investment to create jobs and strengthen the economy have been signed into law. These tax relief packages brought much-needed relief to help all taxpayers cutting taxes in all income brackets, repealing the death tax, bringing marriage-penalty relief, expanding the child tax credit, and strengthening retirement and education savings. Before these historic actions, tax rates were at their highest levels since the end of World War II.

The 2003 round of tax cuts expanded the 10 percent tax bracket into which every American taxpayer falls. For more than 3 million married couples and single filers here in Ohio, that meant take home pay increased immediately. The package signed in 2006 prevented a massive tax hike on middle-income families and small business by extending the previous tax cuts.

The latest tax relief law also accelerated marriage penalty relief - more than 1.3 million married couples in the Buckeye State benefit from this provision, which increases the standard deduction for joint filers to double the amount for single filers. And nearly one million Ohio married couples and single parents are enjoying an increase in the child tax credit - from $600 to $1,000.

For small business owners and investors, the news is just as good as it is for working families. We increased from $25,000 to $100,000 the amount of expenses small business owners can immediately deduct from their taxes for new equipment and technology purchases. And we also sliced into the unfair double taxation on dividends (welcome news for seniors who depend on dividends as part of their income) while reducing taxes on capital gains - a proven winner for the economy (as President Clinton and Congress proved in 1997 when capital gains taxes were last cut).

This tax cut plan has given taxpayers in Ohio and throughout the nation proven relief while giving our economy a much-needed boost. Our state ranks among the top ten states with the largest federal tax relief from the new tax laws enacted since 2001. For those of us who have fought for lower and fairer taxes year after year, it's a big win. And for our nation's economy and job market, it's even bigger. It is my goal to make this tax relief permanent. Every day these provisions remain temporary is a day closer to their expiration and an inevitable increase as the tax rates go back up. I will stand firm and continue to work in Congress to make sure that Washington listens to the needs of all Americans, instead of reaching deeper into the pockets of more and more taxpayers.

Source