Pathway to Job Creation Through a Simpler, Fairer Tax Code Act of 2012

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHOCK. Mr. Speaker, here we are 20 months removed from December 2010 when we last had this debate, 20 months removed from when the President, 91 current House Democrat Members, and 39 sitting Democratic Senators all agreed that our economy couldn't survive a new round of tax increases; 20 months removed from unemployment of 8.9 percent that has continued, quarterly GDP growth of just 2 1/2 percent; and 20 months from a President who proclaimed it wasn't wise policy to raise taxes during a recession.

Well, what has changed, Mr. Speaker? Not much. Unemployment is still over 8 percent, GDP growth has actually worsened to 1.5 percent, and politicians and Presidents from both sides of the aisle are, once again, saying it is not wise economic policy to increase taxes.

Yet one thing has changed. Earlier this summer, the President reversed his decision, decided our economy had undergone some sort of significant improvement and called for massive tax increases on American small businesses, a call which Senate Democrats responded to and which, according to independent analysis, would shrink our economy by 1.3 percent.

The rhetoric used to advocate for increasing taxes by the other side is the same populist grandstanding we have been hearing for years: everyone needs to pay their fair share.

We need to increase taxes on those millionaires and billionaires.

Only 3 percent of America's job creators will be affected.

Well, the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan once famously said:

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but everyone is not entitled to their own facts.

Just like before, none of the claims made by my friends on the other side are supported by fact but, instead, only by campaign commercial-made opinion.

Here are the facts by independent analysis. According to the independent Joint Committee on Taxation, 900,000 small businesses will be subject to these higher taxes, 53 percent of small business income would be hit by these tax increases, 710,000 fewer jobs in America if this tax increase is implemented. And investments, many of which senior citizens live on, dividend income, will increase by as high as 40 percent with this tax increase.

Simply put, there is no bigger ``pants on fire'' argument than that being put forward by our President proclaiming that these proposed tax increases would only affect 3 percent of our Nation's small businesses.

Now, look, the decision is very clear. We can vote ``no'' on both of the proposals, H.R. 8 and H.R. 6169, to follow the President and the Senate Democrats towards a vision that has been proven to cost our economy jobs and growth, or we can alternatively vote ``yes'' on these two proposals which will ensure that the Bush-Obama tax rates stay in effect for a year and we get the comprehensive tax reform we're looking for.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman from Michigan will control the balance of the time.

There was no objection.

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