Senate Republicans: Working Families Tax Cuts are Delivering Real Results for Americans

Washington, D.C.-Last year, congressional Republicans worked with President Trump to prevent the biggest tax hike in American history. Now, with the tax filing season ending, tens of millions of American families are finding more money in their pockets thanks to new tax relief included in the Working Families Tax Cuts. U.S. Senate Republicans, led by Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), held a news conference to highlight the critical tax provisions that are providing bigger refunds and lower tax bills to millions of taxpayers across the country.

To watch the news conference in its entirety, click HERE.

Highlights:

Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho)on permanence boosting economic growth:

"Filing season may be ending, but the benefits of the Working Families Tax Cuts are not."

"We have a phenomenally increased boost from tax relief coming from the Working Families Tax Cuts that is now showing in the tax filing season. … [T]he law also made permanent the three or four critical business taxes that have assured that we will get capital formation, jobs, new business, new workers and higher wages in our economy. [The] permanent R&D deduction, the 199A small business deduction, and the pro-growth reinvestment of capital in new equipment and new workers all make it so that we have a boost outside of the individual part of the tax code, which is generating the capital formation that drives growth in our economy. All these things are working. Filing season may be ending, but the benefits of the Working Families Tax Cuts are not."

Senator Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska)on the paid family and medical leave tax credit:

"Now, we have a permanent program for Paid Family and Medical Leave."

[I]n 2017, "Paid Family and Medical Leave" - it was the first time you had those words in federal law, and it was a Republican Congress that got it done. Now, we have a permanent program for Paid Family and Medical Leave. ... This is a tax credit for businesses so that they can offer their employees Paid Family and Medical Leave, so their employees can take time off to meet the needs of taking care of their families. … Many businesses did want that certainty of a permanent tax credit, so they could make those investments in their employees, so they could be able to help their employees care for their families. What this tax credit does is it exactly meets what the Working Families Tax Cuts set out to achieve, and that is commonsense policies that reward work in this country, that put taxpayer dollars to work for those who paid their share."

Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee)on the enhanced seniors deduction:

"That is money in [seniors'] pocket for gas, for groceries, for tending to grandkids and the things that they want to do."

"The $6,000 enhanced bonus deduction that is in this bill removes the federal income tax from Social Security for 88 percent of our nation's seniors. That is $6,000 per individual, so for a couple where each of them are over 65 years of age, that is $12,000 in deductions. That is significant. That is money in their pocket for gas, for groceries, for tending to grandkids and the things that they want to do."

Senator Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio)on making American-made car ownership more affordable:

"$1,000 to a working American who was struggling under Joe Biden's inflation is a meaningful deduction."

We put in place a tax deduction for working Americans-people making less than $200,000 a year-that if they finance an American-made automobile, not a foreign automobile, they could deduct that interest. We've had one and a quarter million working Americans that have put about $1,000 in their pocket as a result of just that narrow deduction… $1,000 to a working American who was struggling under Joe Biden's inflation is a meaningful deduction.

Senator Ashley Moody (R-Florida)on increased tax refunds and eliminating waste, fraud and abuse:

"We don't expect you to go work hard, take time away from your families, to support your families, and then take your money and put it into places it should never be and to people who should never receive it."

The Working Families Tax Cuts Act shows the American people that we've got their backs. That we don't expect you to go work hard, take time away from your families, to support your families, and then take your money and put it into places it should never be and to people who should never receive it. That is wrong, and that stops with this Administration and under this leadership. I was so proud in my first year as a United States Senator to back legislation that said no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security, and let me tell you what that does for my home state-we are now the number one state in the amount of tax refunds.

Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) on no tax on overtime:

"The money saved through No Tax on Overtime is a rent payment, a car payment-this is real money to hardworking Americans."

My first job off the farm was working at a sale barn. I was fifteen years of age. Rumor is, I maybe fibbed about my age and how old I needed to be, but I had an older brother who was working there and they needed help. ... Oftentimes we worked 24, 30, 36 hours, and of course anything over 8 hours, guess what-we got overtime. So to a 15-year-old kid making $2.30 an hour on a weekend working 30 hours, I was counting that money already and I was going to get myself a nice new truck. But then I'd open that first check and the government had taken almost half of what I'd made in overtime. I'll never forget that. That's one of the reasons we passed the Working Families Tax Cuts bill and why I'm proud to have introduced the Overtime Wages Tax Relief Act. … The money that we save is a rent payment, it's a car payment-this is real money to hardworking Americans.

Senator Katie Britt (R-Alabama)on investing in working families:

"Republicans have said if you're a hardworking parent in this country, we want to help you achieve that American dream."

The affordability and accessibility of child care is an issue. We've seen that from coast to coast, we've seen that and heard that from our largest manufacturers to our smallest businesses, that they have people who want to come to work, who want to be a part of building back America, but that affordability or accessibility is an impediment to that. So… we updated the Dependent Care Assistance Program for the first time, allowing parents to keep $7,500 that they can use in this area. We took a look at the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit that hadn't been updated since 2001, increasing that by about $900-that is real money for parents, putting that back in their pocket. And for the first time since 2001, we updated 45F [the Employer-Provided Child Care Credit], taking a look at public/private partnerships to address that in a responsible way. … What Republicans have done is given you more of your money. We have said if you're a hardworking parent in this country, we want to help you achieve that American dream.

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