House Passes Sales Tax Deduction Extension Without Full Tenn Delegation Support

HOUSE PASSES SALES TAX DEDUCTION EXTENSION WITHOUT FULL TENN DELEGATION SUPPORT
December 8, 2005

Bill includes sales tax deduction, songwriters provision

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. House of Representative passed H.R. 4297, the Tax Relief Extension Reconciliation Act of 2005 by a vote of 234 to 197 today.

The bill includes two provisions Blackburn worked to secure including a year extension of the federal sales tax deduction set to expire after April 2006, and a revision of tax laws adversely affecting Tennessee songwriters.

"It's unfortunate when some members of our delegation put partisanship above Tennessee taxpayers," Blackburn said. "This vote meant tax relief for Tennessee families and for our songwriters, and it should have had the delegation's full support. Tennesseans spoke loud and clear when they supported a sales tax over the proposed income tax. They've been very supportive of the federal sales tax deduction. There's no excuse for voting against this bill, which amounts to a no vote on the deduction. We've seen the sales tax deduction provide hundreds of millions of dollars in tax relief to our state's taxpayers, and it's helping to grow our economy."

"The nation has been experiencing an economic boom with low interest rates, high growth, and strong job creation because we haven't saddled Main Street America with high taxes. Over the last two years our projected deficit dropped by nearly $150 billion because of higher than expected tax revenues and that's a result of our tax policies. We need to reduce spending and promote economic growth to reign in our deficits, and this tax bill is an important part of that effort."

"There's a reason our economy beat a recession, the 9-11 terrorist attacks, and an awful hurricane season and that's because of our pro-growth tax policies."

http://www.house.gov/blackburn/press/dec_8_05.2.shtml