Day 4 of Tax Wrap Up: Larson Votes No On Damaging Tax Bill

Press Release

Today, the Ways and Means Committee met for the fourth and final day of the mark-up of the partisan Republican Tax Plan. The night before, the Democrats had prepped their amendments and were fully committed to continue working through the night in order to preserve some of the middle class tax deductions being placed on the Republican's butcher block. The final Democratic amendments all failed along party lines and the final bill passed out of committee 24-16.

"Connecticut is one of the country's leading donor states as its citizens pay more into the federal Treasury than the Treasury returns to Connecticut. By taking away vital itemized deductions like State and Local Tax deductions, medical expense deductions, student loan interest deductions or the individual exemption the middle class in Connecticut will pay more so that the wealthy and corporations can get a tax break. These are teachers, carpenters, nurses, machinists, who own homes, and work every day to build a better life for themselves and their children, who will be paying the price. This was a dishonorable process, fast-tracked for political gain on the backs of the working class and I voted no on this disastrous bill for Connecticut", said Larson.

Updates:

Larson spoke on the lack of regular order the markup has had the effect this will have on states like Connecticut that are the leading donor states in the country. See here.
4 days of markup
27 Democratic Amendments were submitted and all failed along party lines.
Will raise taxes on 38 million households in order to give tax breaks to the wealthiest of Americans.
How does this affect Connecticut:

This bill would be disastrous for the state of Connecticut as we are one of the leading donor states in the country. This flawed tax plan asks Connecticut's middle class taxpayers to pay even more in order to subsidize tax cuts for corporations, the wealthy, and taxpayers in other parts of the country. 41% of Connecticut taxpayers claim the state and local tax deduction, the second highest rate on country. This bill would eliminate the deduction for state and local income and sales taxes and cap the property tax deduction at $10,000. This is just one of a slew of vital tax deductions that are eliminated in the bill in order to provide tax cuts to corporations and the wealthy.

The Democrats introduced the following amendments were not accepted:

Democratic Amendment 22 Offered by Rep. Blumenauer of Oregon on Wind Production Tax Credit (PTC)
Democratic Amendment 23 Offered by Rep. Sewell of Alabama to restore the Historic Tax Credit. Rep. Larson submitted a letter from the CT State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) to the record, detailing the projects around Connecticut that benefit from this tax credit, including Coltsville National Park.
Democratic Amendment 24 Offered by Rep. Chu of California to reinstate the estate tax that affects estates worth more than $5.5 million or $11 million if filing jointly.
Democratic Amendment 25 Offered by Rep. Kind from Wisconsin to reinstate Section 199 -- the domestic manufacturing deduction provision.
Democratic Amendment 26 Offered by Rep. Pascrell from New Jersey to access President Trump's tax returns, as has been tradition since Nixon.

Deductions Eliminated or Reduced in H.R. 1

Guts the State & Local Tax Deduction (capped at $10,000 and only for property taxes)
This is Double Taxation (worth avg of $19k for the 41 percent of CT taxpayers who claim)

Eliminates the $4,000 personal exemption (worth $16,000 for a family of four)
Eliminates the medical expense deduction (worth $11k for 116k CT residents)
Eliminates deduction for student loan interest
Eliminates teacher's deduction for classroom supplies
Eliminates employer provided education assistance programs
Eliminates deduction for property casualty loss
Eliminates deduction for adoption expenses
Eliminates the credit for individuals over age 65 or who have retired on disability
Eliminates the deduction for dependent care assistance programs
Eliminates the credit for employer provided child care
Eliminates the Historic tax credit to for rehabilitation of historic buildings
Eliminates the work opportunity credit, which incentivizes the hiring of unemployed veterans and summer youth
Eliminates the New Markets Tax Credit
Eliminates the credit for expenditures to provide access to disabled individuals
Eliminates the Orphan Drug Tax Credit

Source