[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 186 (Tuesday, November 14, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S7208]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Tax Reform

  Mr. DAINES. Mr. President, as we cut taxes, there is one goal that is 
the most important: We need more good-paying jobs, and we need bigger 
paychecks for hard-working Montanans.
  It was just announced that the Senate's draft tax bill will repeal a 
tax that fundamentally targets those of low to middle income in my 
State and across the Nation. In fact, in Montana alone, 75 percent of 
the people who pay this tax make less than $50,000 a year. In fact, in 
Montana, 32.5 percent make less than $25,000 a year. This is not just 
anecdotal. In 2015, if you looked across the Nation, 79 percent of 
those who paid this tax made less than $50,000 a year. In fact, a 
little over 37 percent made less than $25,000 a year.
  The IRS pickpocketed over $3 billion from approximately 6.5 million 
Americans in 2015 alone, a majority of whom made less than $50,000 per 
year. This is a tax that is targeted at those who are in poverty.
  What is this tax, you might ask? Where in the world did it come from? 
I will tell you where it came from. It came from ObamaCare. It is the 
ObamaCare poverty tax.
  Otherwise known as the individual mandate, which forces people to 
purchase health insurance or pay a fine, the poverty tax systematically 
taxes those who make less than $50,000 a year. If it were not enough 
that ObamaCare plans were already too expensive for some of these 
folks, the IRS adds insult to injury by fining them, taxing them, for 
not being able to afford it. Some say that ObamaCare steals from the 
rich to give to the poor, but, honestly, ObamaCare's individual mandate 
is really Robin Hood in reverse. ObamaCare's poverty tax is like Robin 
Hood stealing from the poor to pay King John.
  It is unthinkable that we would leave such a provision in the law 
when we have the opportunity to repeal it. By repealing it, we would 
save $338 billion over 10 years. That is over $300 billion that we 
could put toward additional tax relief for small businesses and 
families.
  Alternatively, if we do nothing, the CBO projects that we will 
increase taxes by $43 billion because of this poverty tax and that 
those taxes will be paid primarily by America's low- and middle-income 
families--$43 billion in taxes on those who can afford it the least.
  ObamaCare's poverty tax must go, and there is no better time to get 
rid of it than right now. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the 
aisle to join me in fighting on behalf of the low and middle classes of 
our Nation.
  Benjamin Franklin is credited with this phrase: Just two things in 
life are certain--death and taxes.
  That may be so, but we do not need to make them both quite so 
painful. That is why I am glad to see that a repeal of the ObamaCare 
poverty tax has been included in the current Senate draft tax 
legislation. I urge my colleagues in the House of Representatives to do 
the same.
  Thank you.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.