The Honorable Rodney Davis
United States House of Representatives
1740 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Congressman Davis,
On behalf of the members of National Taxpayers Union (NTU), I write to endorse H.R. 4886, the Permanent Tax Cuts for Americans Act. Your important legislation builds upon last year’s transformational reform of the federal tax code, which continues to strengthen economic growth and enable greater prosperity for American workers, families, and job creators.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) puts over $1 trillion back in the pockets of taxpayers over the next seven years. Starting this year, taxpayers will benefit from a doubling of the standard deduction so that over 90 percent of filers can avoid the complicated process of itemization. Families will experience benefits via a 100 percent increase to the child tax credit and lower rates on taxable income across the board. The TCJA also establishes a new deduction for pass-through businesses and ensures three million more low-income Americans do not pay a dime in federal income tax, expanding what is known as the “zero percent tax bracket.”
Despite claims that the wealthy Americans and corporations gain the most from these individual reforms, a deeper analysis shows lower and middle-income households get the largest percent tax cut based on what they already pay. Data also indicate a single parent earning $52,000 with two children will see a 56 percent cut in their federal tax bill and a family of four with the median income of $73,000 will see a 58 percent tax reduction.
Unfortunately, arcane Senate rules made it difficult to extend these and other provisions beyond the ten-year budget period, meaning most of the individual provisions are set to expire before 2026. If Congress fails to act, tens of millions of taxpayers will be hit with an inadvertent tax increase. Thankfully your forward-looking legislation makes many of the temporary individual components permanent to ensure taxpayers benefit from lower taxes well beyond 2026. American families are already seeing bigger paychecks and better job opportunities due to this generational policy achievement. Now Congress must make these benefits permanent.
Sincerely,
Brandon Arnold
Executive Vice President