“By stopping an intrusive IRS, keeping our communities safe, and providing relief for Americans held hostage and their families, the legislation before us today will help Americans tackle serious challenges.”
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“Under the Republican majority in the House, the Ways and Means Committee has delivered wins for working families. This Committee voted to enhance the pro-work Child Tax Credit and restore pro-growth, pro-jobs tax policies in the Trump tax cuts. We have and continue to hold universities accountable for failing to protect Jewish students. We strengthened trade programs for American farmers, producers, and workers. Even now, Republican Tax Teams are hard at work to build on the successful Trump tax cuts and block the looming $7 trillion Harris tax hike.
“Today, this Committee is taking action to further help working families. By stopping an intrusive IRS, keeping our communities safe, and providing relief for Americans held hostage and their families, the legislation before us today will help Americans tackle serious challenges.
“Our first bill from Representatives Tenney, Kustoff, Schneider, and Titus could not be more timely. It prevents the IRS from assessing penalties on back-due taxes owed by Americans held hostage and prohibits organizations from maintaining tax-exempt status found to have provided material support to a terrorist organization. Our hearts break for the hostages kidnapped by Hamas, on October 7th, including the Americans still being held captive. Russia and other nations continue to wrongfully detain other Americans abroad as well. The last thing these Americans, and their families, need are penalties from the IRS for a situation entirely outside of their control. At the same time, U.S. based organizations that enjoy not-for-profit status in our tax code while supporting terrorism or providing financial support to terrorist organizations should not be able to benefit from tax-exempt status. Over the summer, we learned about a non-profit based in the U.S. which was providing financial support to the employing entity of the individual holding several Israeli hostages. Revoking tax exempt status in this case should be a no brainer.
“The next bill from Representatives Stanton and Schweikert helps keep our communities safe. Currently, less-than-lethal weapons like tasers are taxed as firearms under outdated laws. This tax raises the cost to own and utilize non-lethal tactics and discourages innovation for new safety devices. This bill recognizes a taser is not a firearm and removes future taser related innovations from the Firearms and Ammunition Excise Tax.
“The next bill is the Saving Gig Economy Taxpayers Act from Representative Miller. Millions of Americans use apps like Venmo and PayPal to buy and sell things like couches and concert tickets or to pay a neighbor to mow the lawn. Yet, Democrats in Congress voted to mandate the IRS send a new tax form to 44 million Americans for using one of these services. We know from the Joint Committee on Taxation that 90 percent of this burden would fall on taxpayers making less than $200,000. It’s so backwards that the IRS has twice delayed the implementation of the rule to give Democrats political cover. This bill before us would repeal this policy and stop the IRS from snooping on minor financial transactions for the sake of taking more money out of Americans’ pockets.
“This issue in particular shows how differently Democrats and Republicans see working Americans. This policy treats them as an ATM. Families struggling with high prices need tax relief, not big government demanding more command and control.
“Workers also need stable, good-paying jobs that can support a family. That’s why it’s so critical that more Americans are able to get the skills needed for these jobs. Over and over again, this Committee has heard about the shortage of skilled labor from businesses of all sizes and in all industries. Earlier this year, the Ways and Means Committee took action to tackle this shortage and supported more workforce education opportunities when we voted to expand 529 savings accounts to cover technical education training. Representative Smucker’s bill takes further steps to help workers by incentivizing contributions to certified workforce training and apprenticeship programs. These programs are often the path to a skilled job and the bigger paychecks they can provide. At the same time, more Americans are looking for options other than a traditional four-year degree. This legislation will expand opportunities for more Americans to get the in-demand, good-paying jobs currently sitting unfilled.
“Lastly, legislation from Congressman Adrian Smith responds to the growing demand from parents for more control over their child’s education. The students most in need should get help and access to scholarships to pursue their educational choices. This bill creates new incentives to help support scholarship-granting organizations so that students across the country can receive the education most suited to their needs. Students in need would have their lives changed and not a single dime of public funding for public schools would have to be touched.
“I want to thank my colleagues for their work in finding solutions to address so many of the challenges facing America’s working families.”