Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) by a vote of 227 to 201. All 190 Democrats voted against the act, as well as 13 Republicans. The bill is now on its way to the Senate, where Sen. Mitch McConnell will have to rally support against fierce resistance to see the full document passed.
The full 429-page document can be found here.
The following statements from budget and tax experts at The Heartland Institute – a independent think tank – may be used for attribution. For more comments, refer to the contact information below. To book a Heartland guest on your program, please contact Media Specialist Billy Aouste at [email protected] and 312/377-4000 or (cell) 847/445-7554.
“Doing the right thing isn’t really that complicated. Today, the House finally did what it promised to do, and the result will be a growing economy, higher wages, and a simpler tax code.”
Tim Huelskamp, Ph.D.
President
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312/377-4000
Dr. Huelskamp represented Kansas’ 1st District in the House of Representatives from 2011 to 2017.
“The extremely pro-growth tax reform bill passed by the House today will create millions of jobs, restore rising wages, and produce booming economic growth. The bill would slash the world’s highest tax rates on businesses, both corporate and otherwise, allow the expensing of capital investment, and lower tax rates for workers. Growth will skyrocket to 4 percent or more for a couple of years, creating more tax revenues.”
Peter Ferrara
Senior Fellow for Entitlement and Budget Policy
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
703/546-6814
Mr. Ferrara is the author of Power to the People: The New Road to Freedom and Prosperity for the Poor, Seniors, and Those Most in Need of the World’s Best Health Care (2015), and The Obamacare Disaster (2010).
“Now that the bill has passed in the House, it’s time for the Senate to finish the job and deliver the tax reform we’ve all been waiting for. Every day Congress dithers and delays is another day Americans are being taxed too much and another day success and prosperity has failed to materialize for millions of hard-working American families. If Congress delivers on those promises, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will be a smash hit with taxpayers and consumers.”
Jesse Hathaway
Research Fellow, Budget and Tax Policy
The Heartland Institute
Managing Editor, Budget & Tax News
[email protected]
312/377-4000
“The House Plan to cut and reform taxes will boost real growth to at least 3 percent to 4 percent in the years ahead. As with health care reform, the main challenge to cutting taxes is in the Senate. No Democrat would vote for a bill that would give Republicans credit for boosting the economy in an election year. The loss of support from only three Senate Republicans would prevent tax cuts, slow the economy, and enable Democratic politicians to retain their jobs.”
Robert Genetski
Policy Advisor, Budget and Tax Policy
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312/565-0112
“The House tax bill is a movement in the right direction in terms of U.S. tax policy. By reducing marginal tax rates, particularly for the corporate income tax, and broadening the base, tax reform would improve the economy, simplify the tax code, and make government more transparent. Since a major part of the incidence of the corporate income tax has been shown to be borne by labor, both wages and job opportunities will increase. In addition, tax revenues will rise. As Martin Feldstein put it in his piece on the 25th anniversary of the Reagan tax cut, ‘The actual experience after 1986 showed an enormous rise in the taxes paid, particularly by those who experienced the greatest reductions in marginal tax rates.'”
Gary Wolfram
William Simon Professor of Economics
Hillsdale College
Policy Advisor, The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312/377-4000
“By and large this is a good bill, particularly with respect to the way it treats business income and capital investment, although the decision not to lower capital gains taxes is disappointing. But the fact is, there is no economic or moral justification for taxing income that never actually becomes part of an income earner’s usable revenue, i.e., state and local tax payments. The elimination of deductibility for state and local taxes neither enhances economic efficiency nor is consistent with tax fairness.”
Roy Cordato
Senior Economist and Resident Scholar, The John Locke Foundation
Policy Advisor, The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312/377-4000
“There is a very simple but profound concept in play in the House, and soon in the Senate: As an elected official of a political party, it is first your duty to represent the views of your constituents. However, it is also your duty to support the final product of your party in order to govern. Rogue representatives with personal agendas and selfish motives have hamstrung our democracy for too long. Get this done to the best of your ability, but get this done!”
Scott H. Richardson
Partner, Richardson and Ritchie Consulting
Policy Advisor, The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312/377-4000
Tim Huelskamp served as president of The Heartland Institute from 2017 to 2019.
Peter Ferrara, J.D., is a senior fellow at The Heartland Institute and an advisor for entitlement reform and budget policy at the National Tax Limitation Foundation.
Jesse Hathaway is a policy advisor for budget and tax issues at The Heartland Institute.
Robert Genetski, Ph.D., one of the nation’s leading economists and financial advisors, has spent more than 35 years promoting the use of classical economic and investment principles for sound financial decisions. He heads ClassicalPrinciples.
Roy Cordato is Vice President for Research and resident scholar at the John Locke Foundation. From 1993-2000 he served as the Lundy Professor of Business Philosophy at Campbell University in Buies Creek, NC.
Scott H. Richardson is the former director of the South Carolina Department of Insurance and currently a partner at Richardson and Ritchie Consulting.
