[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 20137]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        GRADING THE GOP TAX PLAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2017, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Danny K. Davis) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, it was really fun 
interacting with my colleagues and learning about the great State in 
which we live and have the opportunity to represent.
  But, Mr. Speaker, as we prepare to vote on the GOP tax plan, I 
decided that I would grade the bill and look a little bit at the 
difference between what has been promised and the reality of what is in 
the final legislation.
  We were told that there would be middle class tax relief and that 
nobody in the middle class is going to get a tax increase. We have been 
looking for it, but instead, after 10 years, millions of middle class 
taxpayers will be paying more, and the majority of the tax cuts will go 
to the corporations and to the 1 percent.
  We were told that it would eliminate tax breaks for the wealthy and 
that wealthy proponents of the bill will personally take a hit from the 
GOP tax plan--another failure. This bill and this plan violates every 
principle and every tenet of economic justice.
  The vast majority of the benefits go to the large corporations and 
the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans. All major tax breaks remain and 
many new ones have been added, including the insidious new 20 percent 
deduction for so-called passthrough entities like real estate 
developers and others. Because of the fact that the new language wasn't 
in the bill passed by the House and Senate, floor amendments to 
eliminate the provision will not be permitted.
  The alternative minimum tax, that safety net designed to thwart 
clever tax dodgers, is gone. The biological heart of the Arctic 
National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska is handed over to oil companies for 
minimal return of Federal tax dollars.
  We were told that Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid would be 
protected, that this was going to be a revenue-neutral tax reform and 
that the bill would pay for itself--failure again. The trillion-plus 
dollars in new deficit spending will be blamed on these programs, and 
pressure to cut them will begin shortly after the new year.
  We were told that tax cuts will spur economic growth--again, failure. 
U.S. corporate profits are already historically high, but corporations 
are not making investments in plants, research, and new technology to 
grow the economy.
  What we need is increased demand, higher wages, returning dislocated 
workers to the economy, rebuilding aging cities, and rebuilding 
infrastructure to revitalize communities. The redistribution of income 
away from low-to high-income households reduces consumption spending, 
which reduces demand.
  The bill will be disastrous to the work of charitable nonprofits, 
reducing charitable giving by $13 billion or more, annually, destroying 
more than 220,000 nonprofit jobs and impairing the ability of 
nonprofits to address community needs.
  Repatriating overseas corporate profit will stimulate the economy; 
that is what we were told. U.S. multinationals currently have $752 
billion in taxes on the $2.6 trillion in profits that they are holding 
offshore. They have already found creative ways to use those dollars 
here at home without paying taxes. Worse yet, the repatriation 
provision helps conceal the permanent and growing costs of tax 
provisions that would lose revenue over the next decade.
  What is needed is linking tax breaks to specific targeted investment 
here at home, such as the new market credit, which, as of the end of 
fiscal year 2016, had generated $8 of private investment for every $1 
of Federal funding; created 178 million square feet of manufacturing, 
office, and retail space; and financed over 5,400 businesses.
  We were told that we were going to be able to reduce health costs and 
health insurance for everybody--failure again. The elimination of the 
penalty for people who go without health insurance will result in some 
13 million Americans losing their health insurance. That includes more 
than 500,000 Illinois residents.
  Healthcare premiums will rise by about 10 percent in most years, and 
for the lowest income working families, with 10 million children under 
17, there will either be no improvement in their child tax credit or a 
token increase of $1 to $75. Low- and modest-income working families, 
with another 14 million children, will receive a child tax credit 
increase of more than $75 but less than the full $1,000 per child 
increase that families at higher income levels would receive.
  We were told that we were going to be able to file our taxes on a 
postcard, simplify and reduce the size of the Tax Code. That is not 
going to happen.
  Final grade, corporations and the 1 percent--the wealthiest people in 
the country--will win, and the rest of society will lose.
  For me, Mr. Speaker, that is not an acceptable result. I could never 
vote for this bill, so count me out. I vote ``no.''
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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