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A national energy crisis, the failures of some financial institutions leading to frozen credit markets and the troubles in the housing and auto industries have all contributed to a downturn in our economy over the last several years. The challenges facing our economy have resulted in a drastic increase in unemployment in Kentucky and throughout the country. Crafting the Right Plan for American Prosperity Americans expect our focus and priorities to be on setting policies that help facilitate creation of new and better jobs. Businesses cannot thrive in an economy falsely buoyed by temporary stimulus jobs and taxpayer-funded bailouts, and we cannot afford to continue these expensive stimulus programs. Reducing Regulatory Burdens, Fixing the tax code, Increasing Competitiveness for American Manufacturers, Encouraging Entrepreneurship and Growth, Maximizing Domestic Energy Production, and Paying Down America’s Unsustainable debt. You can read more about the specifics of this plan by visiting The Plan for America’s Job Creators webpage. Turning America’s Economy Around Prior to coming to Congress, my professional career was focused on helping small businesses and large corporations produce goods and services more efficiently, as well as helping manufacturers produce higher margins that created more jobs and made businesses leaner and more competitive. If you have thoughts to share about the economic policy or direction of our country, click here to email me. Enacting an all-of-the-above energy plan: Adopting a new strategic energy policy will help to improve both our national security and our economy. If done correctly, such a policy will effectively use American engineering, ingenuity and entrepreneurship to overcome our energy challenges. We must stop sending billions of dollars, which could be invested here in America, to unstable foreign regimes. An “all of the above” energy strategy will help us attain greater energy independence, reinvigorate our economy and create thousands of new jobs, right here at home. You can read more about my ideas on energy by clicking here. Repealing the President’s job killing health-care law: Health care reform is necessary, but a government takeover of one sixth of the American economy is not the solution we need. My Republican colleagues and I have offered thoughtful and commonsense proposals that would actually reduce the cost of health care for families, businesses, and taxpayers. You can read more about my ideas on health care by clicking here. Increase the competitiveness of local businesses: More than 90% of the world’s consumers live outside the United States. Trade isolation will not save our economy – it is a prescription for economic death. We must continue to open new markets around the world for products and services produced here at home. Kentucky’s Fourth District has a significant advanced manufacturing presence. Many of those jobs depend on free, open and fair trade because a significant part of their business involves exporting products. We need to pass the South Korea, Panama, and Colombia free trade agreements, which could create up to 250,000 jobs and make foreign markets more accessible for American-made goods and products. Improving government regulation for small businesses: Small businesses are the engine of job creation in America. Roughly half of all private-sector workers are employed by small businesses. These businesses have created nearly eighty percent of new jobs in recent years. Congress must ensure that regulation produces results and not simply more administrative costs that can stifle business growth and job creation. In an effort to significantly improve the transparency and accountability of the regulatory process, I have introduced H.R. 10, the REINS Act. The REINS Act requires that Congress must affirmatively approve any new major rule proposed by the executive branch before it can be enforced on the American people. In order to help small businesses in Kentucky thrive, I have created a Small Business Resource Center on my website that is a portal for information and resources on applying for competitive grants, doing business with the government, helpful State and federal programs, and more. Click here to visit the Small Business Resource Center. Instead of rapidly spending borrowed money (about 40 cents of every dollar spent), Congress must enact policies that will work quickly to foster job creation and allow Americans to keep more of what they earn. Every dollar the government wastes is a dollar that could have been spent in the private sector, growing jobs and putting Americans back to work. Washington has an outdated tax code, which is riddled with duplicative and complex provisions. Complying with the tax code costs Americans many hours of lost productivity every year. As a member of the Ways and Means Committee, I have been part of the debate over fundamental tax reform. I wanted to share with you some of the guiding principles I have regarding reform of our tax code: Lower tax rates across the board and reduce complexity: Americans spend billions of hours doing their taxes, according to Nina Olson, Taxpayer Advocate at the Internal Revenue Service. She recently testified that IRS data shows taxpayers and businesses spend 6.1 billion hours a year complying with tax-filing requirements. Congress must work to streamline the tax code to make it fairer, simpler, and easy to comply with. It can accomplish this goal by consolidating duplicative tax incentives and lowering rates for everyone. Reform the tax code to provide Americans with certainty: Several tax relief measures are scheduled to expire at the end of 2011. The year before, the same was true. If they are allowed to expire, taxes will rise across the board. However, last year’s high-profile fight on taxes ended with a two year agreement that largely extended current law. Congress should not keep “extending” tax policy on a year to year basis, but rather work on a long-term solution to provide stable and predictable tax policy. Individuals and business owners need certainty that their taxes aren’t going to go up each year. Waiting to pass a politically popular tax package each year does not give people the certainty they need to invest. Permanently repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT): Last year, Congress enacted a one year patch on the AMT. Without the patch, the AMT would have cost many taxpayers an average of $2,000 in additional taxes this year. Without Congressional action on a permanent solution, as many as 50 million Americans could face the AMT in 2016. The AMT was designed to target a small percentage of wealthy taxpayers; it was never intended to be applied to working class families. I support the elimination of the AMT, once and for all. Permanently repeal the Death Tax: This tax is punitive in nature and is a tremendous burden on family farmers and small business owners. Funds that could be used to expand businesses or to hire more employees are instead used to pay accountants and lawyers to navigate the complexities of the death tax and ultimately a large bill from the government. According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, the death tax has “broad economic effects.” In fact, one study has found that the death tax is responsible for lowering overall employment by 1.5 million jobs over the previous ten years. I am proud to support legislation that would ensure the death tax is permanently abolished. Although the death tax is repealed this year, it returns in 2013 without action by Congress. Related Documents:
Press Releases -
CONGRESSMEN PASCRELL AND DAVIS APPLAUD SENATORS MENENDEZ AND CRAPO FOR INCLUDING WATER INFRASTRUCTURE BILL IN SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE-PASSED HIGHWAY BILL
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