Issue Position: Protecting Taxpayers
Issue Position
One of Congress' most important responsibilities is to protect taxpayers by reducing waste and keeping government spending under control. We must restore honest, transparent accounting and get serious about addressing our budget deficit head on. We need to cut government waste, stop corporations from hiding their money in overseas tax shelters and responsibly end the Iraq War. We also need to enact strong Pay-as-you-go legislation to force Congress to reign in spending by requiring that any new spending proposed be paid for elsewhere in the budget rather than through borrowing. Congress should also create a bipartisan debt commission to identify budget reforms necessary to balance the budget over the long-term. If Congress does these things, we can balance the budget and reduce America's debt while cutting middle class and small business taxes and continuing to make critical investments for long-term job creation.
I believe we must also protect taxpayers by ensuring that Americans never again finance a Wall Street bailout, and are repaid every penny of the bailout Congress and the Bush Adminstration created in 2008. I am very proud to have authored legislation that passed the House to ensure that the TARP program, also known as the Wall Street bailout, does not cost taxpayers one cent.
In December 2009, the House of Representatives passed the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (H.R. 4173). This comprehensive legislation reins in out of control Wall Street bonuses and executive compensation schemes that lead to excessive risk taking. It ensures that there will be no more bailouts of "Too Big to Fail" financial institutions by giving regulators the power to identify which large, interconnected institutions pose systemic risk to the larger economy and subjecting them to heightened oversight and by giving the government the authority to unwind failing institutions in an orderly fashion so they do not threaten the entire economy.
H.R. 4173 also contained an amendment I authored which ensures that taxpayers will not be on the hook for a single penny of the TARP program, also known as the Wall Street bailout. My amendment requires the same large financial institutions that caused the financial crisis to pay for any shortfalls in the $700 billion TARP program.
As a state senator, I ran my office so efficiently that I returned a full year's operating budget to the people of Michigan over the course of my tenure. I am now bringing this same philosophy to Washington. I ran my Congressional office significantly under budget in 2009, saving taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars. Renewing Congress' commitment to fiscal responsibility will allow us to move toward a balanced budget and focus on investing in what is important to families in Michigan and across the United States, such as job creation, stronger schools, better roads and advanced technology vehicle production while providing tax relief to working families and small businesses.
-New Tax Cuts I Supported
-My Legislation to Cut Taxes
-Cracking Down on Fraud and Offshore Tax Havens
-Reducing Wasteful Spending
New Tax Cuts I Supported
A strong middle class is necessary for a strong America. Working families need and deserve tax relief, and I am proud to have voted for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (a.k.a. the stimulus bill), which provided the quickest, broadest tax cut in U.S. history. The Recovery Act provides 95% of Americans with a tax break, while also expanding the refundable child tax credit and providing small business tax incentives to business to create jobs and spur investment.
During tough economic times, tax relief is critical to both easing the burden facing middle class families and jumpstarting the economy. Hard working, middle class families are taking home more money in every paycheck. Nearly four million Michigan residents are benefitting from this tax cut.
To create new jobs in Michigan, we must make it easier for small businesses to grow. I supported tens of billions of dollars in tax cuts for businesses making capital investments, targeted tax cuts to keep struggling businesses afloat and proposed a plan to redirect Wall Street bailout funds to help provide small business loans instead.
To help boost sagging home values, I supported an $8,000 tax credit for first time homebuyers to help reduce the glut of homes on the market. Tens of thousands of Michigan residents took advantage of this credit to purchase new homes. When the credit was set to expire on December 1 of last year, I fought to have it extended until May 2010, and expanded to provide a credit for existing homebuyers to purchase new homes as well.
I supported a similar provision to boost auto sales by creating a deduction of sales tax on new cars purchases, expected to generate nearly 100,000 new car sales this year. I am also proud to have cosponsored and voted for legislation enacting the popular "Cash for Clunkers" program. The Car Allowance Rebate System gave car buyers rebates of up to $4,500 if they traded in less fuel-efficient vehicles for new vehicles that met certain fuel efficiency requirements. This effective program helped sell hundreds of thousands of efficient vehicles, boosting the economy, creating jobs, reducing emissions, and helping thousands of families afford a new vehicle.
Finally, I fought to shield middle class taxpayers from the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). The AMT was originally intended to only apply to the very wealthiest Americans and prevent them from using loopholes to circumvent paying all federal taxes. Because it was never indexed for inflation, the AMT would have burdened over 25 million middle class taxpayers if Congress had failed to act this year. I urged House and Senate leadership to include AMT relief for the middle class in the economic recovery plan. Leadership responded and included the fix in the recovery plan, stopping the AMT from hitting thousands of Oakland County residents a tax increase this year.
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Legislation I Authored to Cut Taxes
I have made cutting taxes for middle class families a top priority because rising expenses and stagnant wages are squeezing the middle class like never before. That is why two of the first bills that I introduced as a United States Congressman, the Helping Families Afford to Work Act and the Helping Families Afford Tuition Act, are critical tax cuts for the middle class.
The Helping Families Afford to Work Act increases and expands the Dependent Care Tax Credit (DCTC) to help working families afford quality child care. The Act would provide an annual tax credit of up to $6,000 to help offset the rapidly rising cost of child care. While the cost of child care has risen rapidly since President Reagan signed the credit into law in 1981, the value of the DCTC has largely remained stagnant and actually decreased dramatically when adjusted for inflation. In fact, the average price of full-time center day care in the U.S. increased at almost twice the rate of inflation in recent years. The average Michigan family now spends between $6,032 and $8,996 a year for child care. Meanwhile, because the DCTC has not kept pace with inflation, it is now worth less than half its original value.
Some parents are finding that child care costs are so high they can barely afford to work. That's why I introduced the Helping Families Afford to Work Act to provide a tax cut for families to offset the rapidly rising cost of child care. This is a necessary, common sense bill that provides relief to middle class families and stimulates the economy by allowing families to keep and spend more of their own money. I was pleased to see President Obama call to expand the DCTC during his State of the Union Address, and I will continue fighting to provide this important tax relief for middle class families.
The Helping Families Afford Tuition Act provides up to a $5,000 per student tax credit for tuition and related expenses for up to five years of post secondary education. Rapidly rising tuition costs have increasingly become a significant barrier for students seeking a college education. With this legislation, we have an opportunity to invest in our nation's students, relieve the financial burden middle class families face in sending their children to college, and help our next generation of workers compete in the global economy.
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Cracking Down on Fraud and Offshore Tax Havens
Offshore tax havens and secrecy jurisdictions currently hold trillions of dollars in assets, and some of these havens are allowing corporations to hide billions of dollars and avoid paying their fair share in taxes. If we crackdown on these havens, we can reduce the deficit, provide major tax relief for honest taxpayers and make key job creating investments in our country.
International professionals including tax attorneys, bankers, brokers, trust administrators, accountants, and corporate service providers have created an intricate offshore industry that aggressively promotes offshore jurisdictions as a means for large corporations to avoid paying taxes in their home jurisdictions. These professionals, many of whom are located or do business in the United States, advise and assist corporations and wealthy individuals on opening offshore accounts, establishing shell corporations and sham trusts, hiding assets in offshore jurisdictions, and making secret use of their offshore assets here at home. Experts estimate that the U.S. loses between $70 and $100 billion in taxes each year through the use of these illegal offshore tax schemes.
That is why I have cosponsored the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act. This bill, sponsored by Senator Carl Levin, will crack down on the use of offshore tax havens. These abuses rob honest taxpayers of an estimated $100 billion every year. The bill intends to stop tax haven abuse through a multi-pronged approach: increasing penalties for using tax havens, increasing the IRS's ability to prosecute tax shelter abuses, increasing penalties and enforcement of tax shelter promoters and tightening economic substance rules. Simply enforcing the current tax code and requiring corporations to pay their taxes just like honest families will allow us to cut the deficit, provide tax breaks for middle class families that need them and make job creating investments here at home.
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Reducing Wasteful Spending
Congress holds the purse strings of the federal government and therefore has the duty to be good stewards of the taxpayers' money. It is important to the national economy that our government spends wisely. On every issue our nation faces, it is our responsibility to ensure that the policies we pursue are consistent with the values held by the people we represent.
I believe that we must invest responsibly on priorities such as job creation, education and social security. And reducing unnecessary spending will allow us to continue to cut taxes for small businesses and hardworking families, while shrinking the massive budget deficit built up over the past decade. I have worked with my colleagues in both parties to control budget deficits and fight the growth of our national debt, and I have voted against Democratic leadership to oppose hundreds of billions of dollars in spending since coming to Congress in January 2009. Currently, our debt's cost is one of the fastest growing expenses in the federal budget. We must reduce our national debt by returning to smart, responsible fiscal policies. By doing this we can not only cut the deficit, but one day return to the budget surpluses enjoyed in the late 1990s.
We must ensure that new tax cuts and spending commitments are paid for without burdening our children and grandchildren with excessive debt. I believe that a crucial step in restoring fiscal discipline and reducing wasteful spending is the enforcement of pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) budgeting rules which require new spending commitments or tax changes to be paid for by cuts to other programs or new revenue--rather than simply borrowing the money and adding to our debt. That's why I cosponsored legislation to make PAYGO law.
While enacting PAYGO is a step in the right direction, we must work aggressively to shrink our budget deficit. We need a comprehensive plan in place for controlling spending and charting a path to shrink our national debt in the long-term. I support the creation of a bipartisan debt commission that would recommend a comprehensive package of spending cuts to be voted on by Congress. I was one of only 19 members of my party to vote to cap discretionary spending in July of last year, and I am pleased that President Obama announced his support for this idea in January. I will continue voting against unnecessary spending and working with my colleagues to find ways to cut waste and shrink our nation's deficits.
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