Norton Files New Tax Relief Bill For City that Must Pay by the 18th Despite Denial of Voting Rights

Norton Files New Tax Relief Bill For City that Must Pay by the 18th Despite Denial of Voting Rights

Today, on the day D.C. residents are preparing to pay taxes without
representation, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said that when Congress returns from spring recess, the first bill she will introduce will be the District of Columbia Tax Incentives Improvement Act of 2006. The legislation builds on and adds to federal tax incentives she first got through Congress in 1997 in order to help produce residential and business stability and growth. Norton said, "These D.C.-only tax credits have outperformed the city's highest hopes, with a renewed and replenished residential and business tax base to show for it. However, the District's Chief Financial Officer says this growth cannot continue without this or a similar stimuli or assistance to make up for the fact that the District is not a state."

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"This federal tax package has given the District the tools it needed to begin to produce a self-sufficient economy following the financial collapse of the city's economy in 1990's," Norton said. "D.C. residents who are paying their taxes have a message of their own for the federal government that insists on denying them equal citizenship in return. This bill sends the message that, in the absence of other remedies, Congress has a continuing obligation to help the city do what is necessary to help the nation's capital help itself by increasing its own residential and economic output and independence."

http://www.norton.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=339