FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 10, 2005
CONTACT: Chris Paulitz
SENATOR HUTCHISON LAUDS PASSAGE OF STATE SALES TAX EXTENSION THROUGH SENATE COMMITTEE
WASHINGTON, DC -- Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) today applauded the Senate Budget Committee’s passage of a budget resolution which provides for a five-year state and local sales tax extension. This is the first step in the process to ensure Texans have the same tax relief opportunities as the rest of the nation. Last week, Sen. Hutchison wrote a letter to Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg and Ranking Member Kent Conrad urging them to include the extension in this year’s budget.
“All Americans deserve the right to deduct their state taxes, whether they are state income taxes or sales taxes,” Sen. Hutchison said. “This is a question of fairness. We not only need this five-year extension, but the permanent ability to deduct our state sales taxes.”
Sen. Hutchison led the fight to get the deduction reinstated in the 108th Congress through last year’s American Jobs Creation Act to restore fairness to the tax code. Now, in the 109th Congress, Sen. Hutchison is pushing for permanent deduction to help hard-working Texans.
“Reinstating this deduction eliminates any Federal bias regarding the type of taxes a state uses for its revenue source,” Sen. Hutchison wrote last week to Chairman Gregg. “However, this deduction is only in effect for 2004 and 2005, while the deduction for state income taxes is not subject to a similar sunset. In order to prevent this inequality from returning, we ask that a permanent extension of the sales tax deduction be included in the revenue assumptions for this year’s budget.”
After today’s passage through the Senate Budget Committee, the full Senate and House of Representatives will have to pass a budget resolution that allows for the extension. This development will facilitate inclusion of a sales tax deduction extension in future tax legislation passed by Congress. Sen. Hutchison is confident an extension will pass both chambers.
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