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| Wilson Parts Ways on Tax Changes |
May 21, 2004 |
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Congresswoman Heather Wilson today released the following statement regarding Thursday’s vote against H.R. 4359, which passed 271-139, with Wilson one of three Republicans opposed.
“I voted against both the Democrat substitute and the underlying bill, H.R. 4359, a bill concerning the Child Tax Credit.
I supported the expansion of the child tax credit to $1,000 per child that was included in the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 (H.R. 2) signed into law by the President on May 8, 2003. I also support making the tax relief contained in that bill permanent. When we change the tax code, we should make changes for the long haul, not changes that phase out after a couple of years. That tax relief came just at the right time to keep the 2000-2001 recession short and shallow.
Since that time, we have been engaged in a war on terrorism that we did not choose and that we must win.
I have concerns about further tax relief beyond making permanent what we have already passed at this time when our budget still does not balance and we expect to have a lot of bills to pay.
Neither the Democrat substitute nor the underlying bill simply make permanent the child tax credit we have already passed. If they had, I would have supported them. The base bill expanded the tax credit to new taxpayers that cannot now claim the tax credit. That would result in projected $70 billion in reduced revenue over the next 10 years. The Democrat substitute expanded the refundable child tax credit to people who cannot currently claim it.
It’s not the government’s money; it’s the people’s money and I look forward to a time when I can support the next round of incremental tax relief. But we have work to do before then. We must win the war on terror, continue policies that have gotten us back to strong economic growth, and control the growth of government spending so that balancing the budget and paying off publicly held debt is back in reach.”
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