Today, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) delivered the following remarks at a Rules Committee meeting considering The One, Big, Beautiful Bill.
As prepared for delivery.
“Thank you Chair Foxx and Ranking Member McGovern for the opportunity to testify on the historic tax relief for working families, farmers, and small businesses included in The One, Big, Beautiful Bill.
“This legislation makes the successful 2017 Trump tax cuts permanent and delivers on President Trump’s priorities: no tax on tips, no tax on overtime pay, no tax on auto loan interest, and tax relief for seniors.
“Families and workers will benefit from additional tax relief with an expanded standard deduction and a larger Child Tax Credit, as well as receive help with the high costs of adoption, education, child care, and health care.
“Main Street will benefit from a permanent small business deduction that has been expanded to 23 percent, helping small businesses grow, hire, and compete with larger corporations.
“2 million family farms and millions more family-owned small businesses will benefit from a death tax exemption that is permanent, larger, and indexed to inflation.
“This bill will also help revive American manufacturing. Renewed R&D amortization, immediate expensing, and interest deductibility, combined with new 100 percent immediate expensing for construction of new manufacturing plants, will help turn America into a manufacturing powerhouse again and lower taxes for those who build it in America. Opportunity Zones will ensure distressed communities, particularly in rural areas, share in this surge of new investment and jobs.
“Working-class Americans voted for President Trump because he puts their interests over elite special interests. Wealthy universities will pay an endowment tax as high as the corporate tax rate. Bad Biden-era tax policy that rewarded the wealthy, big banks, and China with tax breaks and giveaways will be replaced with good tax policy that benefits working families and small businesses. Illegal immigrants will no longer be eligible for refundable tax credits. Foreign countries will no longer be able to steal American tax revenues.
“The result will be economic prosperity for workers and families like the boom times of President Trump’s first term. Take-home pay for the typical family with two children will increase by as much as $13,300. Annual real wages for workers will rise by as much as $11,600. Pro-growth tax policy will save up to 7 million jobs, while the permanent and expanded small business deduction will add 1 million new jobs each year and expand small business economic output by $1.5 trillion.
“And Ways and Means was able to deliver pro-growth, pro-worker tax cuts below the Committee’s reconciliation instruction.
“I suspect Democrats will make the false claim that this bill rewards the rich at the expense of the poor. But that tired talking point was wrong following the enactment of the 2017 Trump tax cuts and it is wrong under this bill today.
“People who make over $1 million annually, will pay a greater share of the tax burden than they do now. Households earning less than $100,000 get a 13 percent tax cut. Not only do we stop a looming $1,700 tax increase on the average American family, we actually deliver that same family a $1,300 tax cut compared to what they pay today.
“The winners of this bill are the working class: farmers, mechanics, waitresses, lineman, and nurses. My focus has been on delivering for America’s working class because I am a product of the working class. I grew up in a single-wide trailer in a small town of less than 5,000 people. This bill delivers for families like mine, who have fallen further behind for decades.
“Failure is not an option in getting The One, Big, Beautiful Bill to President Trump’s desk. Otherwise, every single American will face an average 22 percent tax increase. Nearly 30 million small businesses will lose the small business deduction and pay a tax rate above 43%. American manufacturing would compete with one arm tied behind its back against competitors like China. Families would have to sell the farm to pay the IRS.
“Congress must deliver on the priorities expected by the 77 million Americans who voted for an America where workers and families thrive again, Main Street and rural towns grow again, and America wins again.
“Thank you for your time and I look forward to your questions.”