American families and businesses are simply taxed too much. To protect jobs and encourage growth, we must keep our tax rates low as well as reform our overly complex tax code.
Enacting Pro-Growth Tax Reform
American taxpayers spend more than 6 billion hours and $168 billion every year to complete their tax filings. Weighing in at nearly 4 million words, the U.S. tax code places a tremendous burden Michigan families and small businesses. I support comprehensive tax reform to create a system that is simple, efficient, and fair to all taxpayers. By enacting a pro-growth tax system, we can promote innovation and job creation in the private sector, help U.S. businesses compete on an even playing field with overseas competitors, and allow taxpayers to keep more of their hard-earned dollars.
Protecting Taxpayers from the IRS
The Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative-leaning organizations is an outrageous abuse of power and undermines the public trust. No administration is above the law; we must ensure full public accountability and guarantee that American taxpayers are never the targets of their own government. To this end, I have cosponsored the Taxpayer Nondiscrimination and Protection Act (H.R. 1950), which would allow the federal government to impose a fine, up to five years imprisonment, or both for an IRS employee engaging in such discrimination. The legislation further reaffirms that political speech and political expression are rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States.
Repealing the Medical Device Tax
As Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, I have helped lead the effort in Congress to expose and repeal the Affordable Care Act. One of the law’s many harmful provisions is a 2.3 percent excise tax on U.S. medical device sales, which took effect in January 2013. This new tax has already had a harmful impact on Kalamazoo-based employer Stryker, resulting in employee layoffs and fewer dollars for research and development. That is why I am a cosponsor of the bipartisan Protection Medical Innovation Act (H.R. 523), which would repeal the medical device tax and allow those dollars to be spent on creating local jobs and making critical investments in life-saving technologies.
Eliminating the Estate Tax
I support the permanent repeal of all federal estate and gift taxes. Eliminating the estate tax – also known as the “Death Tax” – would go a long way toward creating a fairer and more equitable tax code. As a form of double taxation, eliminating the Death Tax would give small business the assurance they need to expand as well as encourage personal saving.
Opposing a Value-Added Tax
The American tax code is already needlessly complicated and burdensome. The addition of any sort of failed European-style value-added tax (VAT) would further contribute to the economic challenges facing American families and businesses. I will continue to oppose any efforts that add to our tax burden, including a VAT.
