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| A Simpler Tax Code |
April 18, 2000 |
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Dear Friends,
Like many of you, we spent much of the weekend doing the taxes -- that annual rite of Spring that ranks right up there with root canals and scrubbing out the garbage cans.
It`s bad enough to have to see written down in black and white all of the money you earned and never saw, but the forms are just so darn complicated!
Here`s a few facts for you:
* Half of Americans today can`t do their own tax returns.
* The tax code is twice as long as the Bible.
* If you call the IRS to ask a question, they have a record of being right 47% of the time. (Comforting, isn`t it?)
Well, I wish I could say that help is on the way by overnight express. It won`t be that fast, but last week, we did pass a bill, H.R. 4199, the Date Certain Tax Code Replacement Act, that will sunset the current tax code in 2004 and put in place a process for comprehensive revision and simplification.
I really think we need to start over with a clean sheet of paper. Setting a date for the tax code to expire and getting a process in place for re-writing it will put real reform on everyone`s "to do" list.
We`ve passed the Marriage Penalty Relief Act and it is pending in the Senate. That will make taxes fairer and lower for 25 million Americans. You
shouldn`t be taxed more just because you are married.
We passed and the President has signed the elimination of the Social Security Earnings Limit so that Seniors who want to work won`t lose their Social Security.
The House has passed Small Business Tax Relief and it is also pending in the Senate.
And it is my hope that by this summer we will pass a bipartisan bill that I am co-sponsoring raising the allowable IRA contribution from $2,000 a year to $5,000 a year and indexing it to inflation.
But we need to make this tax code simpler. The "Date Certain" law will begin the process. It`s long overdue.
I`m home in Albuquerque this week and next. There`s a whole list of town halls and neighborhood meetings around town in our Events section on the web site. Drop by. I`d love to see you!
Glad to be home,
Heather |
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