Valuing Hard Work
Reforming our Tax System for the Middle Class
- Introduction
- Lowering Taxes on Hardworking Americans
- Encouraging Small Businesses
- Creating Jobs Here, Not Overseas
- Ensuring Everyone Pays Their Fair Share
- Simplifying the Tax Code
- Conclusion
Our tax system should reflect our values. The work we reward and encourage, as well as how much we ask each citizen to contribute to our common efforts, not only determines our economic growth, but also reflects our priorities as a country. For too long, those priorities have been skewed by a tax system that benefits the wealthiest people and corporations, while ignoring the needs of hardworking families and innovative small businesses.
The Bush tax cuts for millionaires have been a huge failure for the American people. When they were passed, we were promised that these tax cuts would stimulate the economy and help the whole country. But seven years later, we've seen their disastrous results—stagnating wages, rising unemployment, and more companies shipping jobs overseas. It time for a tax plan that helps put money in the pockets of hardworking Americans, not millionaires and corporations.
That's why I want to end the Bush tax cuts for millionaires, and start focusing on providing tax relief directly to the hardworking families that need them most. We need to lower taxes on the middle class, and ensure that everyone pays their fair share. We also need to stop rewarding companies that send jobs overseas, and start rewarding companies that are creating good jobs here at home. And we need to simplify the tax code, making it easier for people to understand and use.
But if we're going to fix our tax system, we can't have more of the same. We must turn the page on the failed Bush tax cuts for millionaires, and turn our attention to helping the American people. Our tax system shows what we value, and it's time we start valuing the hardworking families of this country.
Lowering Taxes on Hardworking AmericansWe need to lower the tax burden on middle class families who have worked so hard to achieve the American dream. That's why I support tax cuts that will lower taxes for 95% of American working families. We should provide working Americans with a refundable tax credit of $500 for an individual worker or $1,000 for working couples. I also support a $4,000 tax credit to help make college more affordable and eliminating income taxes for seniors making less than $50,000 a year.
There has been some good work done over the last few years to reduce the tax burden on hardworking Americans—like increases in the child tax credit and an easing of the marriage penalty—and those policies should be continued.
Encouraging Small BusinessesIn addition to lowering the tax burden on working families, we need to make it easier to start and run a small business. These businesses are the backbone of our economy, and we should make sure our tax system encourages innovation and doesn't weigh down entrepreneurs with burdensome costs.
We can start by adjusting capital gains taxes on investments in small companies and start-up firms, so they can get the capital they need to thrive in the marketplace. We should also help small businesses compete in the new global market, providing them with a 50% health tax credit on employee premiums paid by the employer. And we should make the research and development tax credit permanent, so that businesses know they can rely on it when deciding to invest in R & D to grow their business over the long term. Creating Jobs Here, Not OverseasWhile more and more good jobs are being shipped overseas, we have a tax system that rewards the offending companies and punishes the innocent American worker. We need to be encouraging job creation here, not elsewhere.
We must start by eliminating international tax loopholes that encourage and reward companies or businessmen that ship jobs from Western New York overseas. Instead, we should have a tax policy that ensures those companies help improve our economy by creating jobs here.
In order to encourage job growth in Western New York, I will work to cut corporate tax rates for companies that create jobs in our country, using the money saved by repealing the current tax loopholes that encourage companies to go overseas. With the right tax system, we can focus companies on doing business here at home, not sacrificing American jobs for the sake of their bottom line. Ensuring Everyone Pays Their Fair ShareWe need to do more than just reduce the tax burden on hardworking families. As we saw in the 1990s, a period of unprecedented economic growth in our country, we do best when everyone pays their fair share.
Particularly in these times of financial crisis, we need to close tax loopholes and make sure that our wealthiest citizens are paying what they should. The Bush tax cuts have disproportionately and disastrously favored the wealthiest in our country, further lining their pockets while the middle class and our economy have struggled. Meanwhile, tax loopholes continue to rob the American people of billions of dollars.
I will work to repeal the Bush tax cuts for those making over $250,000, and restore us to the fiscal responsibility and fairness that has made our country so successful. I will restore the top two income tax brackets to their levels in the 1990s. I'll also support a new top capital gains rate of 20%, which would be equal to the lowest rate we had during the tremendous prosperity of the 1990s.
We also need to eliminate the special tax breaks for oil and gas companies, which are making record profits off the American worker while increasing our addiction to foreign oil. We must close tax loopholes for CEOs, increase the reporting of capital gains, and eliminate international tax havens. By making sure that people pay what they owe, we can save the American taxpayer billions of dollars and jumpstart our economy.
Finally, we must simplify a tax code that has become unnecessarily confusing for too many people. Americans who work hard and play by the rules shouldn't need to spend the money to hire an accountant just to make sure they are following the law and paying their taxes. We need a tax code that allows millions of Americans to file their returns in under five minutes, saving time and reducing stress.
We should look to consolidate tax credits and provide the option of pre-filled tax forms for people who want to do their taxes quickly and take the standard deduction. Not only will we make it easier for people to understand the tax code, but we'll also save $2 billion in tax preparer fees and millions of hours of work.
ConclusionThe Bush administration has failed the hardworking men and women of Western New York. Its tax policies have failed to value work over wealth and have forgotten the middle class families that are the heart and soul of the American economy. It's time for a change. I will support tax reforms that ensure everyone pays their fair share, and that reward the hard work, entrepreneurship, and innovation of everyday Americans.
