The House passed a bill on Jan. 31 aimed at providing tax relief for families with children and for small businesses.
The final tally for the 83-page measure, which would give $78 billion in tax relief to those groups, was 357-70 as 169 Republicans and 188 Democrats voted in favor while 47 Republicans and 23 Democrats voted in opposition. The legislation needed to pass with at least a two-thirds majority.
The Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024 was negotiated between Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.).
The bill would allow families to deduct $1,800 on their taxes per child for the 2023 tax year with the amount going up by $100 per year until the 2025 tax year. The credit is refundable.
“Sixteen million kids from low-income families will be better off as a result of this plan, and given today’s miserable political climate, it’s a big deal to have this opportunity to pass pro-family policy that helps so many kids get ahead,” Mr. Wyden said in a joint Jan. 16 statement with Mr. Smith.
“American families will benefit from this bipartisan agreement that provides greater tax relief, strengthens Main Street businesses, boosts our competitiveness with China, and creates jobs,” Mr. Smith said in the statement.
However, not everyone is on board with the child tax credit aspect.
House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good (R-Va.) blasted the bill as “it massively grows the welfare state by increasing the child tax credit.”
Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), the chairwoman of the House Democrats’ fundraising arm, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said that “the child tax credit expansion would still leave behind millions of kids and families that need it the most.”
Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) said that the bill benefits big corporations and leaves behind working families.
But Rep. Ron Estes (R-Ks.) said that bill provides relief to families and small businesses amid the “high cost of goods and services and burdensome regulations.”
Expressing support for the bill, Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) said that “a half a loaf is better than none, but this isn’t even a half a loaf.”
“But I’m going to vote for it because our families and businesses need help.”
The bill further delays when those who do research and development outside the United States must deduct costs from their taxes. The law currently requires the deduction to be for costs over the past 15 years.
“By incentivizing R&D, this plan is also going to promote innovation and help sharpen our economic competitiveness with China and the rest of the world,” Mr. Wyden said.
“My goal remains to get this passed in time for families and businesses to benefit in this upcoming tax filing season, and I’m going to pull out all the stops to get that done.”
The measure, whose agreement was announced by Mr. Wyden and Mr. Smith on Jan. 16, also allows for immediate relief for businesses that invest in the United States and Taiwan.
Natural Disasters
Additionally, the bill gives tax relief to those in areas impacted by natural disasters, such as wildfires and the East Palestine, Ohio, train wreck that caused lots of toxic pollution.
The legislation also gives a state housing credit to low-income families.
Moreover, the bill winds down a COVID-era tax credit that, according to Mr. Smith, has been “costing taxpayers billions in fraud.”
Republican members of Congress from New York sought to increase the State and Local Tax deduction, or SALT, that is capped at $10,000. Critics say increasing it would amount to red states subsidizing high-tax blue states.
Four New York Republicans almost caused the House to come to a halt as they temporarily derailed a procedural vote on Jan. 31: Reps. Mike Lawler, Nick Lalota, Andrew Garbarino, and Anthony D’Esposito.
They eventually flipped their votes and allowed the vote to succeed but their stand was over their dissatisfaction with SALT not being dealt with in the bill.
Nonetheless, Mr. Smith said, the bill “locks in over $600 billion in proven pro-growth, pro-America tax policies with key provisions that support over 21 million jobs.”
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, decried the bill as “a repudiation of the principles of successful, pro-family welfare reform” and “continues a long-standing push by Congress to dress up welfare benefits as ’tax relief.’” However, the think tank lauded the Taiwan-U.S. aspect of the bill as “beneficial” and “forward-looking.”
On the other side, the Food Research & Action Center, which combats immediate hunger in the United States, said the bill would allow “more families with children struggling to make ends meet“ in addition to getting ”these enhanced tax credits this tax season.”
When the Senate will take up the bill is yet to be determined, but it is expected to pass the chamber and be signed into law by President Joe Biden.
Just another political sweet sounding and sweet tasting chocolate laxative, that gives temporary relief in more rights and benefits to families with children and small businesses, as if old people and thriving mid-size businesses cannot be treated equally. Let’s reward the people who manipulate themselves into positions of social dependency at the expense of people who make working sacrifices and put themselves into winning positions and wealth creation who create the surpluses that the bad decision makers get to live off of? Why not just get the government out of our lives and take away the ability of party politicians to use our hard-earned wealth and life forces to barter for establishment power in mindless tax tradeoffs, that collectively secures not more freedom for individuals to act, but promotes more government control in rewarding the ignorant and punishing the self-governing, deciding who the winners are and who the losers get to be. When you continue to reward bad life decisions, like bringing children into the world with no supporting father, you just end up with an entire nation of illegitimacy, run by politicians who reflect them and each other. Rewarding the successful is never an option, which is why we keep failing when the Gov gets to spend our money, not THE PEOPLE.
Everything you said! In addition, note that the legislation helps ONLY those who have made bad decisions and a few small businesses. What about the elderly? What about those who had enough personal responsibility not to have children they can’t care for? The bigest lie of the Left has ALWAYS been, “it’s for the children.” If they really cared about the children, they’d quit subsidizing out-of-wedlock births. I know SO MANY young couples today who aren’t married because it’s better to milk the system. Mama collects $$$ for each child, and Daddy works, but if they get married the government $$$ goes away. This is wrong on so many levels it’s hard to count.
They lie about “Its for the children”, because unfortunately it WORKS WAY TOO often, to get folks to support it..
TILL THEY SEE the truth of what they were being conned into supporting.
People who have enough personal responsibility NOT to have children they can’t care for, are just as important and SELF-Governing, as those who have the courage and strength to take on the job of raising quality human beings. The latter however have become defined as the enemy of the Socialist wealth and human life force redistributing Democrat party, while the former are morally corrupted into aborting that which in wise decision making, self-control and self-governing ability, never would have been conceived in the first place, where death of innocence becomes a sick twisted viable option. Socialism has always been a one way ticket to death, first of the soul, then the individual, then the national collective of the Democrat party duped, where even the black community is awakening to their true intentions to use them as useful idiots, and pawns to be sacrificed upon the political chess game where their disoriented Queens, not the kings have always been intended to win.
Once again the government is trying to micromanage the economy by favoring certain groups. This is unnecessary. They need to figure out a simple flat tax process that provides incentives for all Americans to work hard and produce without being punished by the government. It’s not that hard a concept.
another #### sandwitch shoved down americas throat!!!
Please Members of House deny this and any other spending bills being presented to you ,in other words place a freeze on any spending bills til cansenous for every increase in spending is met with a removal of another. I would also like to see a SUNSHINE admendment attached to any new spending bill.
ALL federal funding should have a mandatory 10 year, “REVOTE TO keep this active”.. BUT ITS WE the people who should vote on whether to keep it or not.. NOT THEM.
Why is it that I have to reload gopusa.com pages dozens of times before I get anything more than a blank page with a black background?