… the substantial reduction in the complexity of the tax code will benefit even those who do not see direct cuts to their income taxes.–Rep. Amash (facebook, Nov. 16, 2017)
This bill (H.R.1) ensures families across the Southern Tier, Finger Lakes, and Western New York will be able to keep $1600 more of their hard earned dollars. Rep. Tom Reed (facebook, Nov. 16, 2017)
Under a “territorial tax system,” U.S.-based multinational corporations wouldn’t pay U.S. corporate taxes on their foreign profits. That is, they would face a zero U.S. corporate tax rate, and such a massive, permanent tax advantage for foreign profits over domestic profits …–Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) explains his vote for H.R.1:
I voted yes on #HR1, Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
This bill is the House’s effort to significantly reform the tax code. For individuals’ income taxes, it changes some tax rates, doubles the standard deduction, eliminates or limits many deductions and credits, and repeals the estate tax (or “death tax”). For corporate taxes, it lowers the rate, eliminates or limits many deductions and loopholes, and changes our international tax system to a territorial tax system, allowing American companies that earn profits overseas to bring that money into the United States without facing an additional tax on it.
The major benefits of this bill come from the fact that it lowers taxes and reduces the complexity of the tax code.
Lowering rates and eliminating deductions and credits will likely result in less time and money spent on filing taxes, fewer resources wasted on designing and executing strategies to avoid taxes, less social engineering through the tax code, and a fairer tax code overall.
For individuals, the increase in the standard deduction will allow many taxpayers to avoid needing to itemize their deductions. This means many taxpayers will no longer need to spend the time and money to find and claim each of their deductions and, coupled with some of the lower rates and the elimination of deductions and credits, also reduces the relative advantage for those who have the resources to afford better tax advice. This will also result in fewer people being subject to the coercive incentives of itemized deductions, which encourage people to make choices they otherwise would not make.
For corporations, the elimination of deductions and loopholes, and the change to a territorial system, will reduce the opportunities and incentives to avoid taxation and may help to limit corporations’ massive efforts to do so. Billions of dollars are wasted each year when corporations hire tax attorneys and accountants to find contrived ways to structure transactions to avoid taxes. Our current tax code gives large companies an advantage over smaller competitors who do not have the resources to use those strategies. This bill simplifies the corporate tax code, reducing the opportunities to manipulate it.
I believe firmly in limited, constitutional government. That means, among other things, support for less government spending and lower, fairer taxes.
This bill will probably result in additional borrowing in the short run—but only because my Republican and Democratic colleagues continue to vote for higher spending. Republicans and Democrats recently voted along party lines for separate budgets (both of which I opposed) that increase spending and grow our debt by many trillions of dollars. Since entering Congress, I have voted for the least spending of any member of Congress:
The tax cuts in H R 1 won’t directly benefit every taxpayer, and it’s likely some people will even see tax increases. This is not the bill I would have written, but the cuts in this bill are very broad, and the substantial reduction in the complexity of the tax code will benefit even those who do not see direct cuts to their income taxes. (emphasis added)
This entry was posted in Reed’s Views, Taxes and tagged H.R.1, Rep. Amash. Bookmark the permalink.
