Tax Cuts are Exactly What Middle-Class Families and Workers Deserved
‘It’s been little over six months since the passage of tax reform delivered measurable relief to America’s working families and job creators. Six months since Republicans implemented a simpler 21st century framework to help unleash a new generation of success stories. Six months since updated tax brackets and withholding tables provided for some ninety percent of American wage earners to take home higher pay.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding the benefits Americans have seen across the country in the past six months thanks to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act:
“It’s been little over six months since the passage of tax reform delivered measurable relief to America’s working families and job creators. Six months since Republicans implemented a simpler 21st century framework to help unleash a new generation of success stories. Six months since updated tax brackets and withholding tables provided for some ninety percent of American wage earners to take home higher pay.
“Thanks to lower tax rates, the IRS is withholding less of workers’ paychecks. Because we doubled the standard deduction, married couples will benefit from what amounts to a new zero-percent tax bracket for the first $24,000 they earn. And parents are looking forward to the bigger child tax credits they can claim going forward -- up to $2,000 per qualifying child. These tax cuts are just the shot in our arm that our economy needed -- and they’re exactly what middle-class families and workers deserved.
“Well, at least that’s what Republicans believe. Our Democratic colleagues seem to see things differently. They don’t think that $2,000 -- that’s the average estimated tax cut this year for a family of four earning the median family income -- seems like very much money, as far as they’re concerned.
“After all, every single Democrat voted against giving American families these tax cuts. They figured Washington knew how to spend the money better than the taxpayers who earned it. Of course, the bill became law without Democrats’ help. But since then, they’ve set about trying to persuade middle-class families that getting to keep more of their own money is a terrible thing, so they should support Democrats’ efforts to repeal tax reform. I’m glad I don’t have to try and plead that case.
“It looks like more take-home pay for workers is already beginning to have ripple effects throughout the U.S. economy. Fueled in part by Republican policies, consumer confidence in 2018 reached its highest level since November 2000. Sure enough, just last month, retail sales growth doubled the gains that experts had forecast and shot up at the fastest pace in half a year. Here’s the L.A. Times headline: ‘Retail sales post sharp gains in May, signaling a surge in U.S. economic growth.’
“More take-home pay for American taxpayers. More prosperity for American retailers. More demand for American goods and services -- and thus, more demand for American workers. This is what we call a virtuous circle. And Republicans’ common-sense economic agenda is helping make it happen.
“Our Democratic colleagues may want to put Washington’s foot back on the brake by repealing tax reform and piling up more regulations. But they aren’t just arguing with those of us across the aisle. They’re arguing with the facts. They’re arguing with the data. They’re arguing with American families who are keeping more of their own money. They’re arguing with the prosperity our agenda is already helping unleash.”
Related Issues: Middle Class, Tax Reform, Economy, Taxes
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