Miller Newsletter

Statement

In January, the American people are facing the biggest tax increase in our history. Yet the President continues to insist that if we just raise taxes on some Americans all of our problems will be solved. Last week, President Obama spent time traveling around the country trying to sell the American people his fundamentally flawed solution to our fiscal crisis. But, no matter how many times he repeats the same old arguments, the fact remains that the President's plan would do nothing to address our rising debt. In fact, his plan not only ignores the true drivers of our debt, it also threatens to stall an already slow economic recovery and cost our economy nearly 1 million jobs. If they were put into place, the President's policies would stifle our economy, increase our debt, and make it even more difficult to create new jobs. This is not the solution that the American people have been asking for, and it is not a solution that we should accept.

The President says that we cannot afford to keep tax rates low for all Americans. But, when you look at the President's numbers, you find that he is not simply asking us to allow the current tax cuts to expire, he is also asking us to double the amount of revenue by imposing more than $500 billion in new taxes and abandoning bipartisan agreements on issues such as the death tax. And, even after doubling the amount of the tax increase, our national debt would still increase by nearly $8 trillion over the next 10 years under the President's plan. In order to address our fiscal problems, restore our economy to prosperity and our budget to balance, we must focus on the root of the problem: excessive and irresponsible government spending. At the end of the day, what the American people cannot afford is for the federal government to continue over spending their hard earned tax dollars and stifling economic growth.

Unlike the President, House Republicans are serious about reducing government spending, and we understand that in order for our nation to prosper we must have a free and fair economy that allows entrepreneurs and small businesses to thrive. Increasing taxes on small businesses during a time of economic difficulty is simply reckless. Rather than burdening small businesses with higher taxes and more regulation, we should be making it easier for them to innovate, grow their companies and hire new employees.

In order to understand the needs of our nation's small businesses we must listen to what they have to say. This week, small businesses leaders from across the country will be visiting with lawmakers here in Washington to tell us what we need to do to ensure that our nation's small businesses can grow. After all, small businesses are the engine of our economy, and they are responsible for more than 65 percent of all new job growth. But, high tax rates, excessive regulation, and economic uncertainty hurt small businesses by discouraging innovation and entrepreneurship. That is why it is even more imperative to stand up for our nation's small businesses and protect them from the President's fiscal cliff tax hike.

House Republicans understand that we must take measures to avert the pending fiscal cliff and jumpstart our economy. We have proposed a bipartisan framework, consistent with the President's calls for a "balanced" approach to deficit reduction, which would pair significant spending cuts and tax reform to create an economic climate that would both reduce tax rates and increase revenue through thriving and growing economy. Without economic growth, our debt crisis and chronic unemployment cannot be solved. Rather than dividing the American people and sowing the seeds of discord, the President should be working with Republicans and Democrats to find a long term solution to our debt crisis that will avoid the fiscal cliff, reduce government spending, and allow the hard work and ingenuity of the American people to lead our economy forward.

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