Tax Reform Truth Tellers

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I think it is important to ask ourselves how legislation is actually doing once it has passed; and 4 months after tax reform, I think it is time to reflect on that.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from California for organizing this time tonight.

In my California district, the average family is paying $1,900 less Federal income tax this coming year. That means 1,900 more dollars that they can spend to meet their own needs.

I want to urge everyone to visit a website called taxplancalculator.com. There, you can put your own tax numbers in and calculate how your family will fare under the new tax law this year. Everyone I have directed to taxplancalculator.com has come back happily surprised.

But the real importance of tax reform is expanding our overall economy. That is the rising tide that lifts all boats.

One provision of the measure allowed companies to write off the full cost of equipment purchases when they make the purchase. But what does that mean in real life?

Well, Ken Steers is president of Freight Solution Providers, a local shipping company in my district that provides worldwide transportation logistics for businesses large and small. He tells me that since the tax reform took effect, his shipping orders for manufacturing equipment have gone through the roof and haven't let up.

Before the tax reform, our corporate tax rate was 35 percent, the highest in the industrialized world. We reduced it to 21 percent.

Aslam Malik is CEO of AMPAC Fine Chemicals in Sacramento and El Dorado Counties. They produce the active ingredient in several cancer and epilepsy drugs. He said they could outcompete their European competitors in terms of quality and technology and service, but many customers told him that even if their product was free, the American tax made AMPAC noncompetitive. Well, I checked back with Aslam this week. They have already added $2 million to their budget for expansion because, literally, a whole new world of business opportunities has opened up for them.

Now, the left says this is just tax relief for the rich. Obviously, they don't understand that this is precisely what produces higher pay, better jobs, greater opportunities, and stronger financial security for every American.

I attended the Oakhurst Rotary Club last week. They have a tradition of donating dollars to the club as they report good news in their own lives.

One Rotarian had been out of work for nearly 2 years. He was on the verge of despair. With tears in his eyes, he announced to the group that he had just landed his dream job with Pfizer pharmaceuticals and that he would now be able to keep his home and stay in the town that he loved. Relief was written all over his face.

To be sure, our economy still faces many threats--trade wars, bad monetary policy, runaway Federal spending--but, clearly, the tax reform is working. From what people are telling me, if it isn't yet morning again in America, it is at least a new dawn.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source