Issue Position: Taxes - Tax Reconciliation
On May 17, 2006, President George W. Bush signed into law H.R. 4297, the "Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act," (TIPRA). Many of the tax relief provisions included in the 2003 legislation are set to expire and I strongly believe that these provisions should be made permanent. To that end, I supported passage of H.R. 4297. H.R. 4297 intends to avoid significant tax increases over the next five years by continuing existing tax policies and extending certain tax provisions. Specifically TIPRA increases the basic AMT exemption in an effort to lower the tax burden on middle class Americans and makes changes to the tax treatment of nonrefundable tax credits. The bill also includes a two-year extension of reduced capital gains and dividend rates through 2010. Overall, this legislation intends to provide $70 billion of tax relief.