[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 202 (Tuesday, December 12, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H9792]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            THE GOP TAX PLAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, by now, enough of the harsh reality of 
the Republican tax plan has been discovered by Americans. That is why 
most are opposed. They oppose a huge transfer of wealth to those who 
don't need it from the majority of middle class Americans who do need 
help.
  They are against giving hundreds of billions of dollars to the 
largest corporations and the richest Americans with increased borrowing 
on our children and grandchildren. Their proposal would cost about $2.3 
trillion in increased debt and interest.
  They are raising taxes on almost 9 million middle-income people with 
very high medical bills. The Alzheimer's tax is a bad idea and people 
hate it.
  People noticed that the huge permanent tax breaks for businesses and 
the wealthy--they have got theirs--but the tax relief for middle-income 
Americans is temporary and will disappear over time.
  By 2023, the average American who makes $30,000 a year or less will 
see a tax increase. By 2027, all tax brackets under $75,000 are going 
to see a tax increase. Because the Republicans will change the way that 
tax brackets are adjusted for inflation, we are going to see people 
pulled up into ever higher tax rates--a stealth tax increase. For 
middle class Americans, their tax relief is a political football while 
the rich and the powerful are protected.
  Of course, there are other strange things that are going to come out 
on an ongoing basis because of the crazy way this has been put 
together, and it is still being massaged behind the scenes. For 
example, we found just last weekend that some professionals who make 
between $500,000 and $650,000 a year are going to pay a marginal tax 
rate of over 100 percent. For that extra $100 they make, they are going 
to pay $107 in taxes. Absolutely insane.
  People are noticing that this proposal is triggering spending cuts 
for Medicare--$25 billion scheduled for next year--and Medicaid cuts 
for the elderly and disabled are on the horizon.
  There are more reasons to oppose this proposal than I have time to 
list here this morning, but perhaps the most fundamental flaw has not 
been given nearly enough attention. The Republicans would change 
taxation based on how you make your money, not how much you make.
  The very highest taxes will be on the way that 80 percent of 
Americans make their income. W-2 salary and wages are going to pay the 
highest rate. It is going to be collected on each paycheck and very 
hard to cut corners.
  This is going to open a whole new industry when people find that a 
CPA who works for a corporation making exactly the same money as 
somebody who is an independent professional doing exactly the same job 
but pays far more in taxes, people are going to cash in on a whole new 
industry in terms of how people can change how their income is 
characterized.
  There will be a professional corporation, a passthrough business, a 
proprietor, partnerships, and closely held corporations. They will all 
be treated differently based on ownership, the day-to-day level of 
involvement, and the organizational structure. In short, all the people 
who employ lobbyists are going to be able to find a way to pay a lower 
tax rate than people who just get a paycheck for salary and wages.
  Since when does reform of the tax system take this perverted form?
  In fact, those people who are going to be changing the form to those 
other structures will be able to deduct, as corporations will, their 
State and local property taxes, but individuals will not. It is unfair 
and it is unwise. This massive transfer of wealth to the people who 
need it the least, financed by our children and grandchildren with 
higher debt, and creating a different class of taxpayer based not on 
how much you make but how clever you are to be able to utilize 
differences that are created by the army of lobbyists who are at work 
here on Capitol Hill. It should be rejected.

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