Tax Relief

While the federal government has to be funded, Congress has a responsibility to fund it in a responsible manner that respects the taxes entrusted to it by America's families. That means controlling spending and living within a budget. And, whenever possible, we need to return money in the form of tax cuts to the people that entrusted us with it in the first place.

The FY 2008 budget offered by House leadership fails to do that in my opinion. It has the practical effect of raising taxes by approximately $400 billion over five years by increasing taxes on lower income families, reinstating the marriage penalty, and cutting the child tax credit in half.

Old Red Barn

In addition, we also need to permanently eliminate the Death Tax. Many families work their entire lives to build a farm or a small business. Following a death, they shouldn’t be forced to sell the farm or small business just to pay a second set of taxes on assets for which they’ve already paid taxes on in life. This is double taxation and I believe that most people would agree it is clearly unfair.

Current Legislation (Updated September 24, 2007)

H.R. 1586, Death Tax Repeal Act of 2007: As a co-sponsor of this legislation, I'm looking for a 100%, full, permanent repeal of the estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes to take effect immediately. As I stated above, this is a form of double taxation that forces families to make decisions in a time of grief that shouldn't have to be made.

H.R. 2380, Death Tax Repeal Permanency Act of 2007: Similar to H.R. 1586, this bill differs only in that it would permanently repeal the estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes in 2010. While I believe that these taxes should be repealed immediately, this bill offers an alternative for those who do not currently support permanent repeal. I am also a co-sponsor of this legislation along with more than 150 of my House colleagues. One way or another we need permanent repeal of these unfair taxes.

H.R. 743, Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act of 2007 and H.R. 1077, Internet Consumer Protection Act of 2007: Several years ago Congress passed legislation that prevented states from taxing a consumer's access to the internet. That ban is set to expire on November 1, 2007. Both of these bills would make the ban on taxing internet access permanent. While the state of Alabama does not tax internet access, I support the permanent ban and thereofore I am a co-sponsor of both pieces of legislation.

H.R. 191, Senior Citizens Tax Elimination Act: This bill eliminates income taxes on Social Security benefits altogether, ensuring that seniors will not have to worry about incurring income taxes simply because they collect such benefits. This is an important issue and as such I'm a co-sponsor of the bill.

These benefits weren't taxed until 1983, and since 1993, up to 85% of the benefits may be taxed. This is another example of double taxation since these benefits are funded with tax dollars in the first place. Seniors shouldn't have to spend time worrying about paying taxes on their Social Security benefits.

H.R.2734, The Tax Increase Prevention Act: I'm an originial co-sponsor of this legislation that would prevent a $400 billion tax increase from taking effect if the 2001 and 2003 tax relief packages that previously passed Congress are allowed to lapse. This bill would take away the "sunset" provisions, or expiration dates, that are currently in place.

By making these tax reductions permanent, American families and job-creators will be granted greater certainty to plan for the future. These tax cuts are creating jobs and leaving more money in the pockets of taxpayers, something Congress should be doing more of, not less.

H.R. 1937, Timber Revitalization and Economic Enhancement (TREE) Act of 2007: I've co-sponsored this legislation that amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) allow a tax deduction for 60% of qualified timber gains; (2) exempt deductible timber gains from the excise tax on the undistributed income of real estate investment trusts (REITs); (3) provide for the treatment of timber gains as qualifying REIT income and for mineral royalty income as qualifying income for timber REITs; and (4) provide special rules relating to income limitations and prohibited transactions for timber REITs.

H. Con. Res. 99, Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2008: Every year Congress works to pass a budget which serves as a blueprint for government spending. It also covers taxes and other sources of government revenue. The budget passed the House on March 29, 2007 by a vote of 216-210.

The budget conference report as passed will raise taxes by at least $217 billion – the second largest tax increase in American history – with a trigger that could nearly double the size of this tax hike. It promises immense new spending, and puts off any entitlement reform for at least 5 years. It also fails to protect the Social Security cash surplus.

Needless to say this was not a budget that I could support. It goes against the core values of those I represent respecting taxpayer dollars by controlling spending and enforcing fiscal discipline.