Bill Preventing Tax Hike Signed Into Law by President Bush
Pearce: "Tax Relief Promotes Economic Growth and Creates Jobs"
Washington,
Oct 4, 2004 -
Today, President Bush signed into law legislation preventing a tax hike on working families which was overwhelmingly approved by Congress last month. The bill, supported by Congressman Steve Pearce, lets individuals keep more of their hard earned money by extending tax relief proposals that were scheduled to expire at the end of 2004.
Pearce said, “We need to reduce the tax burden on working families and allow them to keep more of their hard earned money to spend as they see fit. It’s simple: tax relief promotes economic growth and creates jobs.”
H.R. 1308, the Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004, extends family tax relief provisions through 2010, specifically:
Marriage penalty relief by increasing the standard deduction for married people filing jointly
The expansion of the 10 percent income tax bracket
The $1,000 child tax credit and the higher 15 percent refundability rate is accelerated to the beginning of 2004
$250 deduction for teacher classroom expenses
The legislation also extends relief from the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) through 2005 — without this provision more middle income families will be pushed into the AMT.
H.R. 1308 also provides assistance to military families in combat zones by allowing them to include tax–free combat pay when calculating their refundable child credit. It also increases the Earned Income Credit (EIC) for military families in 2004 and 2005 by giving them the option to include combat pay when calculating the EIC.
Finally, H.R. 1308 simplifies the tax code by creating a uniform definition of a child for tax purposes.
