WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Biden’s crippling tax hikes on America’s middle class and Main Street will reverse the gains from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, according to key witnesses at a Ways and Means Republican Meeting hosted by Ways and Means Leader Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) and Select Revenue Measures Subcommittee Republican Leader Rep. Adrian Smith (R-NE).

Ways and Means Republicans were joined by witnesses former Senator Phil Gramm (R-TX) and Larry Kudlow, former Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

Rep. Brady said:

“The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act lifted millions of Americans out of poverty and gave hope to so many the old tax code had left behind.

 

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“Democrats’ socialist agenda pushes companies to countries with lower tax rates—including Communist China. President Biden’s global minimum tax will make it better to be a foreign company and a foreign worker than an American one.

 

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“Repealing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is a tax increase on the middle class. Even liberals agree that under the President’s tax plan, working families will see their taxes go up.”

 

Rep. Smith said:

“(TCJA) led to good, solid economic growth. Not a sugar high for our economy, but steady growth that added to wages, added to economic growth, and added to a prosperous future for so many Americans.

 

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“I am seriously concerned about what Democrats’ proposed tax increases would do to state economies across the country, and particularly about the harm faced by our farmers, ranchers, and small businesses.”

Former Senator Phil Gramm (R-TX) said:

• “If you want to destroy the American economy, destroy small business, destroy family business. There are very few family businesses that can survive these kinds of taxes [that the Democrats want]… Up to 80 or 90 percent of all family businesses would be destroyed in one generation under that tax. And under two generations, there’d be none left. What kind of family farm or ranch of any size or magnitude can survive that kind of tax at a generation change?”

 

• “When we cut corporate taxes, workers were huge beneficiaries. When we raise [corporate taxes] we’re raising [workers’] taxes, and you’re paying for it through your 401K.”

Larry Kudlow, former Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said:

• “Six trillion dollars in additional spending is tightly bound to inflation and the public is opposed to it… The Tax Foundation, the University of Pennsylvania at Wharton, and the National Association of Manufacturers/Rice University all say about the same thing—over time, we will lose 1 to 1.5 percent of civilian employment… we will lose 1 to 1.5 percent of GDP, and we will lose 1-1.5 percent of capital stock.”

 

• “Seventy percent of the burden of the corporate tax is borne by the blue-collar middle class.”

 

• “All these taxes leave no room for wage increases or advanced machinery or equipment, technology that increases productivity and leads to higher real wages.”

ADDITIONAL TAKEAWAYS: 

Tax reform worked for America’s workers and made America competitive again.

• Republican tax reform led to the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years.
• Unemployment reached all-time lows for African-American workers, Hispanic workers, and workers without a high school degree.
• American workers also enjoyed the fastest wage growth in a decade.

President Biden’s tax hikes reverse these gains and send jobs and investment back overseas.

• America’s highest-in-the-world business tax rates forced companies and jobs overseas. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act put an end to that trend.
• Democrats’ radical tax plan would turn back the clock and give us the highest business tax rates in the developed world (Tax Foundation).

READ: Explainer: The Last Thing American Families and Small Businesses Need is Democrats’ Crippling Tax Increase

Coming out of a pandemic, the last thing Americans need are Democrats’ tax hikes on Main Street and family businesses.

• Democrats’ supercharged second death tax on small family farms and businesses will cost one million jobs over the next 12 years.
• The left-leaning Tax Policy Center found that Biden’s overall tax plan will raise taxes on 75 percent of middle-class families next year, rising to 95 percent of middle-class families by 2031.
• More than 21 million Main Street job creators will be left shouldering the burden of Democrats’ small business tax hike, which will result in less opportunities for workers and higher prices for consumers.

READ: Democrat Tax Hikes Hit Millions of American Small Businesses, Kill Jobs, Slash American Wages

CLICK HERE to watch this event.

To read Rep. Brady and Rep. Smith’s full remarks, click HERE.