Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010

Floor Speech

Mr. HATCH. Madam President, I have always pledged to the people of Utah that I would fight any tax increase that gives Washington more of their hard-earned money to spend. Allowing middle-class families, small businesses, and investors to keep more of what they earn, while denying this government hundreds of billions in new tax revenue to spend, is the right thing to do.

Opposing this bill is tantamount to supporting massive tax increases that threatens our economic future. If this tax relief expires, Utah would lose an average of 6,200 jobs each year and household disposable income would drop by $2,200. Over 150,000 Utah families would be hit with the alternative minimum tax. Small businesses would see their marginal tax rates go up by as much as 24 percent and our GDP would take almost a 2 percent hit.

I say to my colleagues in the House who want to change this proposal to impose more taxes on American families, you act not only at your own peril, but that of the American people. You had 4 years to stop these tax hikes, but refused. If you change this package for the worse now, with only 2 weeks left in this Congress, I will do everything in my power to ensure your changes never pass the U.S. Senate.

Some argue, why not wait until after January when Republicans control the House to get a better deal. I appreciate that position, but that is a gamble I am not willing to take. Democrats will retain control of the White House and the Senate they will simply drag their feet while blaming conservatives. The collateral damage of inaction will be hard-working families who will see lower paychecks starting on January 1. Experts point to the damage to the economy, but I am as concerned about the damage to the budgets of Utah families. In this case, tax relief denied to all those families, if delayed indefinitely, could be tax relief denied.

I also want to mention the death tax--an insidious tax that disproportionately hits small businesses and family farms. This year it was fully phased out. From my viewpoint, that is the right policy. But, if we don't act, on January 1 it goes back up to what it was in 2000--a $1 million threshold and a top rate of 55 percent. The proposal before us today includes the bipartisan Lincoln-Kyl compromise.

That bipartisan proposal puts in place a $5 million threshold--$10 million per couple--and a top rate of 35 percent. When Republicans were in control in 2006, we couldn't even get this proposal through Congress. So this is a pretty good deal and to my friend from Arizona, Senator Kyl, I applaud his efforts. If Congress fails to act, on January 1, 10 times the number of estates will be hit, including 13 times as manner farm-heavy estates.

If I had my way, all the income tax rates would be made permanent--that is the kind of certainty our economy and job creators need. Furthermore, I would never extend some of the so-called temporary tax provisions that look like tax relief, but in reality are little different than welfare through the Tax Code. Far too much new spending is mislabeled as tax relief. Thankfully, some of those provisions were dropped, like the so-called build America bonds tax credit. We also should pay for this extension of unemployment insurance so it doesn't add to the debt.

Lastly, to those who believe that instead of this proposal, we should be undertaking wholesale tax reform: you are absolutely right. We need to reform our Tax Code to broaden the base while lowering rates to make our economy more competitive. But we don't have time to reform the code before January 1. As the next lead Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, I will lead the fight to simplify the Tax Code, and cut back on out-of-control Washington spending. Once we stop these tax hikes, we can then begin the long-overdue national discussion about how best to overhaul our overly burdensome and inefficient tax system.

The bottom line is that this package is not perfect. But it does at least one very important thing it allows the American people to keep more of their hard-earned money and not hand it over to the Federal Government.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source