|
WASHINGTON - Congressman John Spratt today issued the following statement on tax cuts and the budget.
"I support the middle-income tax cuts passed in 2001 and 2003. I have voted not once but several times to remove marriage penalties in the tax code and to index the alternative minimum tax so that it does not apply to middle-income taxpayers for whom it was never intended. I voted also for a 10% tax bracket, which is a big tax cut, $334 billion over ten years, and for an increased child tax credit.
"For hard-working taxpayers making moderate wages, I have always supported the earned income tax credit, which amounts to a tax cut for 50,000 working parents in my district. For well-to-do tax payers, I have voted to allow an estate tax exemption of $3.5 million per decedent and reduction of the estate tax top rate by ten percentage points.
"When the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts were passed, they were set to expire on December 31, 2010. These tax cuts were based on blue sky estimates of the economy, and there was concern for their impact on the budget if the economy did not perform as projected.
"The House Budget Committee, which I chair, wrote the statutory pay-go bill, requiring that any new tax cuts or benefit increases had to be offset in order not to worsen the deficit. To facilitate their renewal, we excluded the middle-income tax cuts from the offset requirement.
"From this brief account of my record, it should be clear where I stand on tax cuts, especially during a fragile recovery.
"As for the 2011 budget, the Budget Committee has ready to go a 'Budget Enforcement Resolution.' The resolution will be attached to the supplemental appropriations bill, and it has not yet moved because the supplemental has become a bone of contention.
"Our resolution fixes the level of discretionary spending at $7 billion below the president’s request, and fixes mandatory spending according to the pay-go rule, which is to say, there is no enhancement of benefits or reduction of revenues without full offsets.
"Our resolution sets as a goal a budget in balance by 2015, excluding net interest, and it recognizes the Fiscal Commission, on which I serve, for recommendations on how we should align revenues and expenditures, and what we should do to make Social Security and Medicare sound and solvent for years to come. It also ensures that the House will vote on the recommendations of the Fiscal Panel before the end of this session.
"When these measures are added to the president’s budget requests, and the president’s requests are marked up in twelve appropriation bills, we have the full complement of a budget."
|
