Middle-Class Tax Cuts

Floor Speech

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I come to the floor this morning to urge my colleagues to support the middle-class tax cut bill that would extend and expand the payroll tax relief for our families and small business owners. This legislation is straightforward. It should not be controversial. At a time when so many of our hard-working middle-class families continue to struggle in this very tough economy, this bill would cut their Social Security payroll tax in half, from 6.2 percent to 3.1 percent. That means a tax cut for 160 million workers in this country today.

In my home State of Washington it represents a tax cut of around $1,700 for a family earning the median income next year. This bill would put money into the pockets of small business owners and encourage them to hire workers by cutting the employer's side of the payroll tax in half as well and eliminating it altogether for firms that are making new hires. In Washington State, 150,000 small business owners would receive a tax cut under this plan and they would have thousands of dollars more in their pockets to spend in their communities and get workers back on the job.

This is a big deal. Economists from across the ideological spectrum have said payroll tax cuts create jobs and boost the economy. They have said it could be devastating to allow them to go up in this weak economy.

In the past, Republicans have agreed and have strongly supported payroll tax cuts as an effective way to boost the economy and create jobs, so this should be easy. It should be something both parties can get behind and quickly pass, but unfortunately it seems politics are getting in the way. I am disappointed that many of the same Republicans who spent the last few months fighting tooth and nail to prevent tax increases on the richest Americans and biggest corporations are now hesitating to give average working families a break. In fact, it was this very issue that prevented the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to come to a deal.

On the Democratic side we put forward serious compromises on the table to get to a balanced and bipartisan deal, but our Republican counterparts refused to allow the wealthiest Americans to pay a single penny more in taxes and insisted that the middle class and seniors and most vulnerable Americans bear the burden of this crisis alone. It was not fair then; it is not fair now. This bill is fully paid for by asking millionaires, who earn more than $1 million a year, to pay a little bit more, a small step toward a fair share. It is not drastic. It does not close the loopholes and shelters that Republicans have been fighting hard to maintain. It does not touch the Bush tax cuts for the rich they have been protecting. It doesn't end the tax breaks for the oil and gas industry that they would not allow us to close. It simply adds a 3.25-percent tax on incomes over $1 million a year. That means if someone earns $1.2 million in a single year they only owe an additional 3.25 percent on that last $200,000.

At a time when so many families are struggling, we think this is a fair thing to ask the wealthiest Americans, who survived so well, to continue to give working families a break.

This vote sets up a simple choice. Do you vote to extend tax cuts for middle-class families and small businesses that have been struggling in this economy or do you vote to protect the wealthiest Americans from paying 1 penny more toward their fair share? I know where I stand. I feel very strongly that we owe it to middle-class families across this country to extend this tax cut. I think it would be a whole lot easier if our Republican colleagues were as focused on tax cuts for the middle class as they are for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and corporations.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation and extend tax cuts for the families who need them most.

I yield the floor.

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