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Income Taxes I believe Americans deserve a tax cut. I also support tax deductions to help individuals and families pay for college expenses and a health insurance tax credit for small businesses struggling to afford health coverage for their employees. During last year's Senate debate, I supported a tax cut and budget plan that would have benefitted every taxpayer and jump-started our economy. This plan addressed three critical national goals: cutting taxes across the board for all taxpaying families, paying down the national debt, and investing in important national priorities such as Social Security, Medicare and education. I voted to give every taxpayer an income rate reduction and a tax cut last year. I voted for immediate tax refund checks for all income and payroll taxpayers to help stimulate the economy. In addition, I voted to eliminate the estate tax for every small business and farm and 99 percent of all personal estates. I also voted to eliminate the so-called marriage tax penalty. This plan included increases in tax credits for families, including the child tax credit, the adoption tax credit and the college tuition deduction. I voted against the Bush tax cut in 2001 because it was heavily tilted toward tax breaks for large corporations and wealthy individuals instead of providing targeted tax relief for working families. This massive tax cut has put the country back into deficit spending after eight years of surpluses. More than $4 trillion of anticipated budget surplus has disappeared due to last year's tax cuts, the war effort, and the recession, forcing us to dip into the Social Security surplus. I think we should return to fiscal discipline that protects the Social Security Trust Fund as soon as possible, in a manner that does not undermine economic recovery and homeland security. Therefore, I am open to modifications to last year's tax bill. For example, instead of waiting nearly 10 years to address the estate tax and then totally eliminating it for the wealthiest estates, we should eliminate estate taxes immediately for small business owners, farmers and 99 percent of all estates, while continuing to call on the wealthiest people in our society - who often have successfully avoided taxes on much of their income while they are alive - to pay their fair share in estate taxes. |
SENATOR DICK DURBIN'S LEGISLATIVE
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