Tax Extenders Act Of 2009

Floor Speech

Tax Extenders Act Of 2009

* Mr. HOLT. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of legislation that will extend tax relief to millions of Americans, the Tax Extenders Act of 2009. This bill will extend 40 tax cuts which are due to expire at the end of this year, many of which are important to businesses and families in Central New Jersey.

* New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the country. While property taxes are assessed on a local basis to fund local services and schools, I have attempted at the federal level to provide some relief to homeowners. Earlier this year, I reintroduced the Universal Homeowner Tax Relief Act (H.R. 2725) which would extend the property tax deduction for American homeowners who don't itemize on their federal returns. I helped write this initiative to create an additional standard deduction of $500 for single filers and $1,000 for joint filers for local real property taxes paid. I am pleased that the bill before us today extends this deduction for the 2010 tax year and provides needed relief to the 30 million homeowners nationwide and an estimated 600,000 New Jerseyans who are due to lose this benefit this year.

* H.R. 4213 also includes $17 billion in tax cuts that would help American businesses create and preserve jobs during these difficult economic times. It would extend the low-income housing tax credit exchange program which has invested more than $3.7 billion in the construction of more than 49,000 low-income housing units nationwide. It will also invest $3 billion to encourage economic development in economically distressed communities.

* I especially support that H.R. 4213 would extend the research and development tax credit for an additional year. This tax credit is crucial in spurring private research and driving technological innovation and will support R&D at 11,000 American companies this year. This credit stimulates American made innovation and preserves and creates new high paying jobs in research and development. As important as the R&D tax credit has been, it has never been a permanent part of the tax code and has been allowed to expire several times, most notably in 2007. Congress should work to make this tax credit permanent in order strengthen the incentive for businesses to invest in long-term research by giving corporate leaders certainty that their research investments will be rewarded year after year.

* The Tax Extenders Act of 2009 also would extend the above-the-line deduction for qualified tuition and related expenses. This tax cut of up to $4,000 helps parents offset the rising cost of higher education and keeps a college degree within reach of many middle class families. H.R. 4213 also would extend the teacher tax credit that allows teachers to deduct up to $250 for purchasing classroom supplies for their students. More than 3.4 million teachers benefited from this tax credit this year.

* The Tax Extenders Act ensures that these tax cuts do not increase the deficit by providing the U.S. Treasury Department with significant new tools to find and prosecute U.S. individuals that hide assets overseas from the Internal Revenue Service.

* I am always looking to extend tax relief to New Jersey families. This bill does that in a fiscally responsible way.

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