End the Middle Class Tax Hike

Press Release

‘The consequences of mismanaging this stealth tax are very real'

U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday regarding the consequences of Democrats' mismanagement for American taxpayers:

"Right outside of this chamber stands a statue of Benjamin Franklin.

"According to the Office of the Senate Curator, sculptor Hiram Powers received a contract from President James Buchanan himself to sculpt Franklin in 1859. The statue arrived at the Capitol in 1862, and has been in that spot ever since.

"Franklin wrote many famous aphorisms that live on to this day, and I want to talk about one of my favorites.

"Two hundred and eighteen years ago today, Franklin wrote to a friend words that will long outlive most things we say here: ‘Nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.'

"Proving the aphorism, Franklin died less than a year later.

"Mr. President, while we know the certainty of death and taxes, we can do something to ease the burden for the 23 million Americans who will be in for a rather unpleasant surprise on April 15 if Congress doesn't act now to stop the middle-class tax hike, which goes by the rather innocuous name of ‘AMT'—a law that was originally intended in 1969 to impose taxes on a handful of high-income individuals who used loopholes in the code to avoided paying any regular income tax.

"Congress has known about the need to fix this problem all year, but the majority hasn't brought a bill to the floor. And now they say it will be December before they do.

"The consequences of mismanaging this stealth tax are very real.

"This tax will grab $65 billion out of the pockets of middle-class taxpayers—an average of $2,000 per family. Millions will be hit for the first time.

"The IRS sent a letter warning Democrats that unless they act before December, the tax returns of 50 million people—and $75 billion in tax refunds—will be delayed.

"Just last week Democrats in the House of Representatives passed a bill that purports to delay the burden of the AMT for one year—by socking a massive, $80-billion tax increase to the American people. That's the last thing they need right now, and it would be a disastrous jolt to the economy.

"Maybe a massive tax hike wrapped in an AMT fix sounds like a good idea to some people. But I've got a message for anybody who thinks that: such a proposal is dead on arrival in the Senate.

"The AMT, a middle-class tax hike, was never meant to be collected from the millions of Americans that it will hit this year if we don't act. And I say this Congress ought to cut taxes by cutting taxes, not raising taxes."

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