House Votes to Extend Bush-Obama Tax Cuts
August 1, 2012
House Votes to Extend Bush-Obama Tax Cuts
(WASHINGTON) – By a margin of 256-171, the U.S. House of Representatives passed on Wednesday afternoon the Job Protection and Recession Prevention Act (H.R. 8). The legislation extends the Bush-Obama tax cuts passed originally in 2001 and 2003 under President Bush and extended in 2010 by President Obama. The bill maintains the current income tax rates that were set to expire on December 31, 2012; continues the marriage penalty relief, the $1,000 child credit, the current rates on capital gains, and small business expensing; and implements a two-year AMT patch, among other things. Tomorrow, August 2, 2012, the House will consider additional legislation to create a path for comprehensive tax reform in 2013.
“With so much economic uncertainty out there, the last thing Washington needs to do is rock the boat and allow a $403 billion tax increase at the end of this year,” said Congressman Huelskamp, a member of the House Budget Committee. “Even President Obama has said it himself: You don’t raise taxes in a recession. While certainly we are not in a formal recession, last quarter’s 1.5 percent GDP growth is disheartening, a sign of weakness in the economy, and a warning shot that recession could be just around the corner.”
“American businesses are threatened with a fiscal cliff at the end of this year, but today we provided some confidence by extending the Bush-Obama tax cuts, and tomorrow we will set up the means by which we will enact comprehensive tax reform next year. However, families and business owners will not be able to sleep soundly until the Senate passes this legislation and the President signs these bills into law.”
“When I go home for the August work period, I will add to the more than 150 in-person town halls I have conducted since taking office in January 2011. And, I know I will continue to hear at my future town halls what I have heard in the past: Washington needs to overhaul the tax code to make it fairer and flatter for everyone. My constituents are not interested in the class warfare rhetoric President Obama tries to engage them in; no, they are interested in solely in economic growth that they know will happen when we lower tax rates and widen the base.”
In January, Congressman Huelskamp introduced legislation to make permanent the Bush-Obama tax cuts.
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