Rep. Doggett: Trump to Hill Republicans, Thanks for my Billion Dollar Tax Breaks
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Tax Policy Subcommittee, delivered remarks on the House Floor in opposition to Republican tax bill H.R. 1, ahead of its scheduled vote today. You may view Rep. Doggett's full remarks here. Rep. Doggett said:
"The promise of tax reform has degenerated into little more than a scam to aid tax dodgers. While public attention is diverted to scandal in Alabama, Republicans rush through this sham of a tax bill, developed in the dark with lobbyists, before most Americans realize what is about to hit them in the face.
"Instead of more jobs at home, Republicans create a giant, new, gaping loophole to ship even more jobs abroad. Even Speaker Paul Ryan's home-state Republican Senator, Ron Johnson, concedes that under this bill ‘there will be a real incentive to keep manufacturing overseas.' Hardly a surprise, since President Trump's Wall-Streeter designated to run this show, was just identified, personally, from leaked Bermudan documents, as a past executive of not one, but 22 island tax-paradise shell companies.
"Meanwhile, another loophole, carried interest, that flows to plutocrats like Donald Trump—that's the very injustice he promised last year to stop – will keep flowing right into their pockets. But as for the deduction for student interest for those overwhelmed with college loans, like other middle-class tax provisions, that's part of $65 billion in education tax assistance cut by this bill. They are totally dependent upon alternative facts. Today's bill even authorizes the biggest tax dodgers who want to pay absolutely zero in taxes by abolishing the alternative minimum tax. That one change in one year would have put $31 million in Donald Trump's pocket.
"So Trump has very good reason to visit this Capitol today—just to say thank you for the estimated $1 billion plus that is estimated to go to the Trump family under this bill. ‘When does my tax refund get here?,' he must be saying. But, of course, we do not know precisely how much he will be personally enriched, because House Republicans are still colluding to hide his tax returns.
"Republicans want to apply a ‘dynamic score' to this bill. I say, create a dynamic workforce. Invest in people; do not overwhelm us with endless debt. Develop a more competitive, healthy workforce, that empowers our Dreamers and other immigrants, that gives every American access to education and skill upgrades to achieve their full, God-given potential.
"As they deny one middle-class deduction after another and impose a new Alzheimer's tax, Republicans claim that they have a patented tax miracle cure for most everything but baldness.
"We've seen this traveling trickle-down medicine side-show before. It didn't work then, it won't now. All they are doing is grabbing for a political life-preserver after ten months of Republican failures but leaving Americans drowning in debt. This isn't tax reform; it's a giant giveaway to Washington special interests that must be stopped."
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