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| Taxes |
| Tax Relief and Tax Cuts |
 The federal government collected over $2.407 trillion taxes and
so called user fees in 2006 and $3.307 trillion in 2007. Enough
is enough!
I believe that we taxpayers can solve our own problems better than
the bureaucrats in DC. We can fix our own bridges, highways, schools
and power plants without running our money through DC and coming
back with “Pork Barrel” projects.
I am still at a loss why the 107th Congress, which had a Republican majority,
did not make the Bush tax cuts permanent. In 2001, Congress passed the Economic
Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (EGTRRA), among other things; it provided
marriage tax penalty relief to America’s working married couples. These
changes are phased in over several years while, at the same time, all of the
changes in EGTRRA will expire after 2010.
Download EGTRRA |
| Marriage Penalty Tax |
I believe legislative
action is needed immediately to eliminate the current tax code that unfairly imposes a penalty on married couples.
All tax bills
must be introduced in the House of Representatives.
Sheila
Jackson Lee has not acted to make the Marriage Tax relief
permanent. The voters of the Texas 18th Congressional District
should send
me to Congress to represent them to reduce their taxes. Taking
into consideration that the current tax code has a sunset on the
marriage penalty solution, it is imperative that Congress pass
legislation to make this provision permanent. It is not only equitable,
but prevents sending a message that married couples should be treated
differently than singles. |
| Alternative Minimum Tax |
If tax reform is not enacted, then the Alternative
Minimum Tax (AMT) will ensnare more and more middle class American
families.
I believe it is the most pressing individual income tax issue
facing Americans today. This tax regulation was created in
1969 in an effort to close certain loopholes and ensure that
a small
number of extremely high-income taxpayers paid a fair share of
the federal income tax. However, the lack of indexation of the
AMT, coupled with the recent reductions in regular income taxes,
has greatly expanded the potential impact of this tax.
Congressional
action is needed or the AMT will "take back" most of
the tax relief granted through income tax reform.
As it is currently applied, the AMT represses economic growth and
punishes those who are working hard to provide for their families.
Without congressional action, the number of taxpayers subject to
the AMT will jump dramatically from 3 million in 2004 to 21 million
in 2006 and over 41 million in 2013.
Is your family one of these 38 million families facing higher taxes?
Families with large numbers of children will be especially hard
hit. I will introduce and support legislation making increases
in the AMT exemption amounts permanent. |
| Antiquated Taxes and Tax
Reform |
| Do you know how the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS) defines income? The IRS defines incomes as
everything is income except what they say is not income! |
"Sec. 61. Gross income
defined
(a) General definition
Except as otherwise provided in this subtitle, gross income means all income from whatever source derived, including (but not limited
to) the following items:" |
The current tax code is full of antiquated policies that were installed for a
specific reason and for a specific time, but never removed. For example, the
Federal
Telephone Excise Tax was first enacted in 1898 to help pay for the Spanish-American
War when telephones were considered a "luxury." While this tax was
initially applied to long-distance service, it was later extended to general
phone service in 1941 and currently applies to all telecommunication services,
which include standard and wireless telephone services, as well as computer Internet
connections. This tax unfairly targets Americans that rely on telephone service
as a primary means of communication. For those on fixed incomes, including our
nation's elderly and disabled, it is often difficult to avoid excessive telecommunication
charges, especially in today's information age.
These types of taxes are indicative of a much larger problem; the current tax
code is unnecessarily confusing and complicated, causing taxpayers to spend more
than six billion hours every year on paperwork and other bureaucratic requirements.
On average, $200 billion a year goes uncollected in federal taxes and taxpayers
pay in excess of $5 billion a year to identify and prosecute tax evaders. Clearly,
major tax reform is necessary.
I will support efforts to reform the tax code,
making it simpler, fairer, and more growth oriented. By replacing our current
convoluted and fraud-ridden system with more simplified tax requirements, I believe
we will be able to meet the dual goals of providing core government services
and returning much needed income back to our families.
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