This evening, the United States Senate will be voting on a cloture motion on the “Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act,” erroneously dubbed the “jobs bill.”  ATR will keyvote against this cloture vote in our annual “Hero of the Taxpayer” Congressional scorecard.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, this bill will raise net taxes by $8.6 billion over the next decade.  It will funnel $50 billion to organized labor projects.  It will increase spending and increase the national debt.

The tax hikes include a raft of tax increases on Americans who conduct business overseas.  It imposes a tax penalty on overseas banks that don’t report information on U.S. taxpayers to the IRS.  It also requires U.S. taxpayers to disclose foreign accounts on their American tax returns.  This is another step in the direction of the IRS having its nose in every area of our lives.  The simplest way to deal with the question of international tax reform is to move toward territoriality.  Most of our trading partners only seek to tax income earned within their borders, rather than trying to tax on a worldwide basis.  America should do the same.

The other major tax hike is a further delay in the worldwide allocation of interest rules, a tax cut which Congress passed back in 2004 but has never implemented.

Raising taxes is never a good idea, but especially not at a time of economic weakness.  This bill will not create (or save) any new jobs, and is another example of Washington wasting money and raising taxes.

ATR WILL RATE A VOTE AGAINST CLOTURE ON THE “HIRING INCENTIVES TO RESTORE EMPLOYMENT” ACT

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