WASHINGTON, DC - Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) today delivered the following remarks on the House Floor ahead of a vote on a package of tax breaks that will add $622 billion to the deficit and mostly benefit businesses at the expense of hardworking Americans:
“This bill adds $622 billion to the deficit - the vast majority of which is through permanent tax provisions.
“For those whose purpose is to have the increase in the deficit continue to drive down non-defense spending, this bill will almost certainly accomplish this. Non-defense discretionary spending will already fall by FY17 to its lowest level as a share of the economy since 1962. These cuts seriously threaten programs that assist the middle class or those striving to reach the middle class - programs like Headstart and Pell Grants, and in job training and basic health research.
“For those who want - as they have for years - to make tax breaks permanent so that they will not have to be offset in a revenue-neutral tax reform, this bill will help them carry this out, leaving more room to cut taxes for the very wealthy - which they say will pay for themselves.
“For those who want to continue tax cuts that were only intended for a specific period, like expensive bonus depreciation - whose purpose is to ease recovery from the recession and loses effectiveness otherwise - this bill will help do that.
“For those who want to continue international tax proposals - often serving as a loophole and helping to move resources overseas - this bill will help do that.
“The Active Financing international tax provision made permanent in this bill at a cost of $78 billion, and the extension of the CFC look-through provision for 5 years at a cost of $8 billion - which often promotes tax havens - should be thoroughly re-examined as part of comprehensive tax reform. And the sooner the better.
“This bill is a piecemeal approach to tax reform. It is the opposite of what was done by former Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp, who kept some provisions, changed some, ended some like bonus depreciation, and paid for his revenue-neutral comprehensive tax reform proposal.
“These serious shortcomings must be weighed against the provisions that are important priorities for Democrats - the Child Tax Credit, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and the American Opportunity Tax Credit.
“The long-term negative dangers of this legislation make the price too high.
“Therefore, I oppose this legislation."
