FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 1, 2001
CONTACT: Lisette McSoud Mondello
SENATOR HUTCHISON BRIEFS FREESTONE COUNTY LEADERS
ON CONGRESSIONAL AGENDA
FAIRFIELD, TX -- Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison today told a group of Freestone County leaders, including Judge Linda Grant and Mayor Luke Ward, that the tax-cut bill passed by Congress last Saturday will give tax relief to hard-working taxpayers, including married couples.
"We passed a tax-cut bill so that every working American will get relief from the burden of taxation. We passed a budget that is responsible stewardship of the people's money," Senator Hutchison said. "We believe that people can choose how to spend their money better than the government can."
The $1.35 trillion bill has been sent to the White House for the president's signature. The measure includes four major components: a cut in marginal income tax rates and the creation of a new 10 percent bracket; an increase in the child tax credit; repeal of the death tax; and relief from the marriage penalty, which forces some married couples to pay more taxes than two single filers with the same income.
Congress passed Senator Hutchison's marriage penalty relief bill twice during the last Congress, but President Clinton vetoed it both times. The penalty forces some 21 million couples to pay an average of $1,400 more in taxes than two single filers. The tax-cut bill doubles the standard deduction and broadens the 15 percent bracket for married couples filing jointly.
"This is solid relief for married couples," said Senator Hutchison, who has championed marriage tax penalty relief since coming to the Senate. "We want people not to think of taxes as a factor when they decide to tie the knot and start their family."
She also highlighted the provision in the bill that will repeal the death tax. "I want those family businesses to stay together," she said. "Family ranches, farms and small businesses are the economic engine of this country, and for more than 200 years it has been our tradition to value family-owned businesses."
"If we can pass these family businesses through the generations without taxing them and causing them to have to be sold to pay inheritance taxes, then we will have strengthened the entrepreneurial spirit that helped to build this country," Senator Hutchison said.
Senator Hutchison entered the Senate on June 14, 1993. She was elected in January by her Republican Senate colleagues as Vice Chairman of the Republican Conference, a leadership post.
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