Congressman Doyle Opposes Budget-Busting Tax Bill

Washington, DC – U.S. Representative Mike Doyle (PA-14) today voted against legislation that would increase the national debt by nearly $70 billion in order to extend tax breaks that primarily benefit multi-national corporations and households with annual incomes of more than $200,000.

“I can’t believe that at a time when the federal budget deficit is clocking in at more than $400 billion a year, Congressional Republicans want to drive our children deeper into decades of debt so they can help a few millionaires,”Congressman Doyle said.  “We can’t afford more tax cuts for the wealthy at a time when we’re waging two wars overseas and an anti-terror campaign at home and we’re cutting safety net programs for the neediest, most vulnerable Americans.”

H.R. 4297, the “Tax Relief Extension Reconciliation Act,” would extend the existing tax breaks for capital gains and dividends for an additional two years – providing an average tax break of $41,400 to those making over $1 million.  This provision would save the typical taxpayer in Pittsburgh about $16.  The bill also extends the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) exemption, although only for one year, and it boosts allowable expensing limits for small businesses.  The non-partisan Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that the bill will reduce federal receipts by $69.96 billion over the next five years   

“This legislation would give millionaires two years of tax breaks, while it protects millions of middle-class families from the AMT for only one year,”Congressman Doyle observed.  “Those just aren’t my priorities.”

“To the extent that we are going to cut taxes this year, I believe we should target those tax cuts to working families, especially middle class families who are about to be hit hard by the Alternative Minimum Tax,” Congressman Doyle added. “That’s why I voted against this misguided legislation.”

Unfortunately, H.R. 4297 was approved on a more or less party-line vote of 244 to 184.  This legislation must now be approved by the Senate before it becomes law, and the Senate is expected to act on it soon.

Enactment of H.R. 4297 will mark the end of the Fiscal Year 2006 federal budget reconciliation process.  The other budget reconciliation bill, H.R. 4241, cut $39 billion federal spending programs – primarily from student loans, Medicaid, child support enforcement and other important safety-net programs. 

It’s remarkable that with passage of H.R. 4297, the Fiscal Year 2006 budget reconciliation process will actually increase the federal budget deficit – rather than reduce it, as reconciliation measures have done historically.   

“This shouldn’t really come as a surprise,” Congressman Doyle noted.  “It’s simply the continuation of years of Republican fiscal irresponsibility which haveincreased the national debt to more than 8 trillion and increased taxpayers’ interest payments on that debt to an average of more than $300 billion a year over the next decade.”

###