Sen. Snowe: Jobs Bill Must Focus on Creating Jobs

Statement

U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) today released a statement following the Senate's continued debate over President Obama's jobs bill. The Senator voted against ending debate on the measure.

Senator Snowe said:

"Job creation is indisputably our nation's number one priority, and there are elements of the President's package that Republicans and Democrats should be able to agree upon. Unfortunately, yet again the Senate was faced with a take-it-or-leave-it package to which no amendments would be allowed on this bill with massive and wide-ranging implications. We should have had the opportunity to improve this bill that regrettably threatened to actually cost jobs, by raising taxes on small businesses. Four out of five taxpayers hit by the administration's proposed surtax are business owners. Forty-one percent of all business income reported on individual returns will be affected by the surtax. With U.S. economic growth slowing, unemployment still above nine percent, and the looming threat of a global economic downturn, we should not saddle our already fragile economy with tax increases on job creators. Moreover, the jobs bill proposed by the president and amended by the majority leader put in place permanent tax increases to pay for temporary spending programs.

"Without question, we require an economic game-changer to reverse the disturbing and lasting trends of high unemployment and weak growth that are plaguing the nation. Elements of the President's jobs bill that a majority of Congress supports should be brought to the floor for votes as soon as possible. Tax reform, extending the payroll tax cut, providing incentives for employers to hire military veterans, and using existing Highway Trust funds for expedited road and bridge projects are all good proposals that will help foster job creation. In addition, I continue to urge the Congress to pass my regulatory reform legislation. Removing needless red tape and inefficient bureaucratic barriers to job creation is one sure fire way to promote economic growth nationwide, but the longer we dither on this issue, the longer our economy will continue to stagnate.

"The momentum in support of comprehensive regulatory reform is growing, with a majority of the Senate, and of the Members of the Committee of jurisdiction, already having voted in favor of legislation I authored and introduced, the FREEDOM Act, on the Senate Floor. The fact is, according to a witness at one of the Senate Small Business Committee hearings, a thirty percent reduction in regulatory costs would save nearly $32,000 for a 10-person firm, which is enough to hire one additional person. Think of what that would mean for our economy if every small firm experienced that relief.

"Moreover, since the start of this Congress I have insisted that we have a two-year window to determine how we can ensure our tax system is right for the nation in light of weak growth and a staggering budget deficit and a national debt of $14 trillion. It is essential that Congress craft a tax code not just for today, but to provide a system of government financing that will remain stable and provide both certainty and competitiveness for the long-term. We simply cannot afford the cost of our antiquated tax system. The August 2010 report from the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board that found taxpayers and businesses spent 7.6 billion hours and about $140 billion to comply with tax-filing requirements in 2008, which is roughly equivalent to 1 percent of our Gross Domestic Product.

"First, we should establish a pro-growth tax code with the fewest number of economic distortions that raises sufficient revenue to finance our nation's spending priorities. Second, our tax code should be simplified to reduce the burden of compliance. It's frankly absurd that, while small businesses generate 75 percent of net new jobs, compliance for them costs 67 percent higher than for large corporations. Third, we also have to end the fiscal "shell game" where we extend tax cuts for only a year or two at a time or make them temporary to mask their true long-term costs. The list of expiring tax provisions has grown so large that the annual exercise of renewing them is also now a major revenue exercise. Fourth, the tax code should promote savings and investment, the drivers of long-term growth. Fifth, the tax code must not be a barrier to American business competitiveness in the global economy. We have the second highest corporate tax burden in the industrialized world today. Finally, our tax code must distribute the tax burden fairly."

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