"Steve Scalise" by American Life League
For decades, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) has fought and delivered for taxpayers.
As a member of the Louisiana Legislature, Scalise not only signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, but organized and led the state’s Taxpayer Protection Caucus.
As the House Majority Whip in 2017, Scalise marshalled the votes needed to pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act – the most significant tax cut package since the Reagan Administration. Before the Green New Deal existed, Scalise was ahead of the curve, successfully leading the charge in Congress to kill the Left’s carbon tax.
Now, with Scalise serving as the House Majority Leader, the House of Representatives is poised to take up the American Families and Jobs Act, legislation that would provide direct tax relief for middle income families and small businesses struggling through inflation.
Cutting taxes for Americans hit by inflation
Leader Scalise served on the House Republican Leadership team that delivered the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), the 2017 Republican tax cuts signed into law by President Trump.
TCJA reduced individual income rates across the board and doubled the standard deduction. The TCJA provisions targeting individual income rates had a sizeable impact on tax liability for the middle class.
The Republican tax cuts also doubled the maximum child tax credit (CTC) from $1,000 to $2,000 per child under age 17 and increased the phase out thresholds from $75,000 to $200,000 for single filers and $110,000 to $400,000 for joint filers. This expansion has been shown to have a large impact on American families’ tax bills, with 36 million households earning $200,000 or less receiving an average credit of $2,002.
Now, under the leadership of Scalise, House Republicans are advancing a new round of broad based tax relief for taxpayers in the form of the American Families and Jobs Act. The American Families and Jobs Act would simplify the tax code, reduce taxes for families and businesses, and lead to higher wages and new or better jobs.
This legislation provides a direct middle income tax cut by increasing the standard deduction and promotes economic growth by extending expired and expiring provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. It repeals market-distorting subsidies from the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act and eliminates the new IRS 1099-k paperwork reporting rule targeting Venmo and PayPal transactions.
The American Families and Jobs Act deservedly passed out of the House Ways and Means Committee with the support of every Republican committee member and awaits consideration from the full House.
Lowering Energy Taxes and Costs for American Consumers
This Congress, Steve Scalise introduced the Lower Energy Costs Act (H.R. 1), a sweeping package consisting of more than twenty pieces of legislation that increase domestic energy production, reduce regulatory burdens, and lower energy costs for consumers.
The bill lowers the direct costs of energy production imposed by government by repealing onerous provisions such as the natural gas tax, a new tax increase imposed last year as part of Democrats’ so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” (IRA). The natural gas tax was estimated by the Congressional Budget Office to cost to taxpayers $6.5 billion. This tax hike on American energy would be paid by consumers in the form of higher energy bills. The bill also eliminates administrative fees on energy production included under the Mineral Leasing Act and rolls back excessive royalties imposed on oil and gas production under the IRA.
H.R. 1 would also lower the costs that consumers pay at the pump by streamlining energy permitting and increasing lease sales. The bill requires that the Secretary of the Interior “shall immediately resume quarterly onshore oil and gas lease sales in compliance with the Mineral Leasing Act” and ensures that a minimum of four onshore oil and gas lease sales per producing state and two offshore lease sales occur each fiscal year.
Finally, the bill aims to protect America’s energy security by strengthening critical mineral supply chains, increasing domestic production and making the U.S. less dependent on China by prohibiting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) affiliates obtaining a stake in domestic oil and gas projects.
Americans for Tax Reform signed onto a coalition letter alongside more than two dozen organizations in support of H.R. 1.
Defeating the Left’s Carbon Tax
Scalise has introduced his anti-carbon tax resolution every Congress since 2013 in order to voice Republican opposition to the job-killing energy tax.
Scalise’s resolution has enjoyed substantial support in years past, having passed the House in July of 2018 by a 229-180 vote margin. It offers members of Congress an opportunity to go on the record to demonstrate their opposition to the extreme policies being pushed by Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi.
ATR applauds Leader Steve Scalise for leading the fight against a carbon tax and applauds their commitment to protecting American families and businesses from a carbon tax.
Call Leader Scalise and thank him for fighting to protect taxpayers and for affordable energy at: 202-225-0197.