[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 198 (Tuesday, December 20, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7791-S7792]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



             Fifth Anniversary of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

  Mr. President, December 22 will mark the fifth anniversary of the 
signing of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. It has been

[[Page S7792]]

5 years since Republicans reformed the Tax Code to allow Americans to 
keep more of their hard-earned money, 5 years since we modernized the 
Tax Code to encourage businesses to invest in America and create good-
paying jobs here, and 5 years since our economy started to rebound 
after years of stagnant wages and growth.
  Republicans know that government doesn't create jobs and that 
Washington can't legislate prosperity. But government can certainly get 
in the way of prosperity, and before tax reform, too often our Tax Code 
was getting in the way. It was taking too much money from Americans' 
paychecks. It was making it difficult for businesses--large and small--
to create jobs, increase wages, and grow. And it contained perverse 
incentives for companies to park profits abroad and avoid manufacturing 
things here in the United States.
  Republicans knew things needed to change, and so we set to work to 
reform our Tax Code to put more money in American families' pockets and 
to help grow our economy.
  We lowered tax rates across the board and simplified the Tax Code so 
that hard-working Americans would pay less in taxes and spend less time 
filling their forms out every April. We lowered tax rates for owners of 
small- and medium-sized businesses, farms, and ranches, and made it 
easier for them to recover the cost of investing in their businesses, 
which in turn freed up cash for them to invest in their operations and 
their workers.
  We lowered our Nation's sky-high corporate tax rate--which prior to 
the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, was the highest corporate tax rate in the 
developed world--to make American businesses more competitive in the 
global economy and empower them to invest in wages and benefits for 
their workers. And we modernized our international tax system so that 
American businesses would no longer be operating at a disadvantage next 
to their foreign counterparts.
  And it worked. It worked. In the wake of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, 
wages and incomes for American workers grew. Unemployment fell to a 50-
year low. The poverty rate fell to the lowest level ever recorded. 
African Americans and Hispanic Americans saw record-low rates of 
poverty and unemployment. The income gap narrowed. Business investment 
increased. Companies created new jobs, and they invested in their 
employees. And they opened new opportunities for American workers by 
moving production and capital into the United States.
  Tax reform also spelled an end to the wave of companies moving their 
headquarters out of the United States. Prior to tax reform, there was a 
growing trend of corporate inversions, which is tax-speak for companies 
picking up and moving their legal headquarters offshore. And that was 
due to our dysfunctional Tax Code. Since tax reform, there hasn't been 
a single U.S. corporate inversion.
  Let me repeat that. Since tax reform, there hasn't been a single U.S. 
corporate inversion, which means more jobs and opportunities for 
workers here at home.
  Contrary to claims that tax reform mostly benefited the wealthy, it 
was actually lower and middle-income Americans who saw the greatest 
benefits. In fact, the top 1 percent of taxpayers are paying a greater 
share of taxes today than they were before tax reform. And I haven't 
even mentioned the fact that tax reform has helped result in record-
high revenues for the Federal Government.
  Unfortunately, we were not able to make all of the tax reforms in the 
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent, and some provisions have already begun 
to expire.
  One important pro-growth provision on its way to phaseout is bonus 
depreciation. Manufacturers, farmers and ranchers, and several other 
industries have relied on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act's bonus 
appreciation provision, which allows them to immediately deduct the 
full cost of investment and short-term assets, such as machinery and 
equipment. The bonus depreciation will soon begin to phase down, making 
new investment in productive equipment a more expensive proposition for 
businesses of all sizes.

  Extending the bonus depreciation provision--or better yet, making it 
permanent--would not only provide certainty to American businesses; it 
would create tens of thousands of new jobs, increase wages, and grow 
our economy by making it easier for businesses to invest and expand. 
And it would have even more of an impact in today's high inflation 
environment, where investment dollars are going a lot less far than 
they used to.
  In addition, under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, this year, businesses 
lost their ability to fully expense research and development costs in 
the year they incur them. Full R&D expensing is beneficial to many 
businesses, but it is especially important for manufacturers and for 
high-tech industries, where cutting-edge research and development is 
critical for innovation and continued leadership in these fields. For 
the sake of American workers and American industry, we should restore 
full R&D expensing.
  At the end of 2025, many of the lower tax rates for working families 
and small businesses will expire. Middle-income families who received a 
tax cut the year following tax reform will see a tax hike in 2026 if 
middle-income tax cuts are not extended or made permanent.
  Also, at the end of 2025, the increased death tax exemption level is 
set to expire, leaving more family farms and small businesses subject 
to this punitive tax.
  I have seen the consequences of the death tax when a family has to 
sell their farm, ranch, or small business because they don't have 
enough cash to pay this massive tax on their loved one's life's work. I 
hope that we will not only extend the increased death tax exemption 
level but will permanently eliminate this unfair tax.
  Tax reform worked. It worked for American families. It worked for 
farmers and ranchers. And it worked for American businesses. Allowing 
key elements of tax reform to expire would reduce opportunity and raise 
taxes for hard-working Americans at a time when their pocketbooks are 
already strained, thanks to the historic inflation crisis the Democrats 
have helped to create.
  I hope that my colleagues across the aisle will recognize this and 
work with Republicans to permanently extend the expired provisions of 
the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and continue efforts to make the tax code 
simpler, fairer, and more competitive.
  The President likes to talk about giving families ``a little 
breathing room.'' There is no better way to give families breathing 
room than by allowing them to keep more of their hard-earned money.
  I hope the President will take an honest look at the success of the 
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and come out in support of making these pro-
growth policies permanent.
  I am disappointed that my Democrat colleagues recently chose to forgo 
the chance to extend full R&D expensing and 100 percent bonus 
depreciation in the year-end funding bill. Extending these should be a 
no-brainer. Democrats should not be holding these essential business 
credits hostage to a partisan agenda.
  Tax reform helped create an economic environment that encouraged 
growth and set the American people up for new opportunities, higher 
wages, and a more secure future. It is time to build on these successes 
and extend the benefits of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act for the long term.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Padilla). The Senator from Mississippi.