At Americans for Tax Reform’s annual Tax Day Eve Press Conference last Thursday, Congressman David Kustoff (R-TN) highlighted the success of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in increasing wages and take-home pay in Tennessee:
“I visited with a small employer in my district in West Tennessee in February, right after the schedules had come into effect. It’s an eight or 10 person business. The man and his wife do the payroll manually. He told me that they pay their employees each week. Their pay period is each week.
“Their employees on average were getting an additional $15-$20 per pay period per week. If somebody’s getting an additional $20 per week, do the math. That’s $1,000 a year.
“That is not small. That is life changing. Then the businesses in my district, FedEx, which gave bonuses, is doing over a billion dollar expansion in their hub in Memphis because of tax reform. Good businesses like First Horizon, First Tennessee Bank, which gave bonuses but also raised their minimum wage to $15 an hour.
“That’s the Republican way to raise minimum wage by creating the economic incentive and the economic opportunities.”
Congressman Kustoff represents Tennessee’s 8th district. ATR has compiled a list of Tennessee companies giving tax-cut bonuses and raises, available here. The national list of companies can be found here.
Rep. Kustoff’s full remarks and the press conference in its entirety can be found below and here: