Tax Plan

Since I was elected to public office, my mission has always been to put New York taxpayers first. For America to remain competitive and free, our nation needs a straightforward tax code that encourages work and entrepreneurship, allows Americans to take home more of their earnings, and establishes competitive rates for employers. President Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), which passed with my support in 2017, was the most significant tax reform legislation signed into law in decades. TCJA lowered rates for individuals and businesses, doubled the Child Tax Credit for families, and incentivized encouraging significant private investment and growth. It represented a major step forward to ensure that America’s tax code fits the needs of our nation in the 21st century.

At the beginning of the 118th Congress, I was appointed to the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over our nation’s tax policy, among other matters. As a member of this committee, I am leading tax policies that are pro-growth and pro-worker, while working to ensure that our nation’s tax laws are carried out in a fair manner. In addition, I am working to enact policies that help promote American innovation to ensure that American companies have all the tools at their disposal to compete against their global peers. Lastly, I am acting to provide constant oversight of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to ensure that they are held accountable to the American taxpayer and protect against the unfair auditing practices that occurred during the Obama Administration when the IRS targeted conservative organizations. 

I have long championed the rights and interests of New York taxpayers and will continue to do so by fighting for a fairer and simpler tax code that rewards hard work and innovation. As Americans continue to grapple with high inflation and escalating consumer prices, it is imperative that we focus our efforts on these critical issues. Instead of addressing these pressing issues, the Biden-Harris Administration has chosen to prioritize an agenda, as evidenced in its budget proposal released this past spring, that includes trillions of dollars in new tax increases, which will disproportionately impact hardworking American families. This includes a staggering increase in death taxes, a move that could spell disaster for family-owned businesses across the nation. Moreover, President Biden is seeking an additional $100 billion in funding for the IRS, with the aim of targeting middle-income families and small business operators, all in the service of advancing his far-left policies and the costly Green New Deal.

These policies are a stark contrast from TCJA, which delivered substantial tax relief to hardworking Americans and provided a much-needed boost to small businesses and manufacturers across the country. The positive impacts of the TCJA were felt by all Americans, particularly in the two years following its passage. During this time, real median income rose by $5,000, real wages increased by 4.9 percent, and total U.S. domestic investment surged by over 20 percent. These gains were a direct result of the pro-growth tax reforms championed by the GOP and it is crucial that Congress builds on these successes and protect taxpayers from reckless spending and crushing inflation through commonsense government oversight.

Building on the Successes of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

• Cosponsored H.R. 4721, the Main Street Tax Certainty Act: This legislation would make the 20 percent pass-through small business tax deduction permanent. This deduction, originally passed as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017, is critical for small businesses that operate as sole proprietorships or through partnerships, S corporations, trusts, or estates. It also applies to qualified REIT dividends and income from publicly traded partnerships. In doing so, this bill empowers small business to compete on a level playing field.
• Cosponsored H.R. 976, the TCJA Permanency Act: This legislation would make the tax cuts for individuals and small businesses that were enacted as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent. Republican tax cuts reduced taxes on middle-class families and small businesses across the country and created nearly 5 million jobs in the two years following its passage. H.R. 976 would build on these impressive results, ensuring that we can once again reach this level of economic prosperity.
• Cosponsored H.R. 7035, the Death Tax Repeal Act: This legislation would repeal the death tax, which imposed an unfair and costly tax on countless family businesses and farms upon the death of the business owner. Formally known as the estate tax, this tax is ruinous for the growth of generational businesses and farms. It prevents companies from growing and carrying on a family legacy. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provided temporary relief from this tax but Congressional action is needed to fully eliminate this cruel tax on grieving families.
• Cosponsored H.R. 3661, the Small Business Growth Act: This legislation supports small businesses, farmers, and ranchers by reducing taxes on equipment purchases. The bill proposes increasing the Section 179 deduction cap from $1 million to $2.5 million, with an expanded phaseout threshold of $4 million, allowing businesses to fully deduct the cost of qualifying equipment such as farming machinery, office furniture, and commercial vehicles. Increasing this deduction will free up resources for small businesses to put towards their employees, capital investments, and other essential business expenditures, which will allow small businesses to expand their operations, remain competitive, and better withstand economic challenges such as high inflation and increased regulatory burdens.

Revitalizing our Communities and Supporting our Families 

• Introduced H.R. 2539, the New Markets Tax Credit Extension Act: This bill would make the new markets tax credit a permanent part of the Internal Revenue Code, provide adjustments for inflation, and exempt investments from the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). Private investors would be provided with a 39% credit against federal income taxes for any investments made in underserved communities. As defined by U.S. Census data, businesses located in designated low-income communities would be eligible. This bill would serve to create jobs and revitalize rural economies.  
• Cosponsored H.R. 3238, the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Improvement Act: The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) has been a cornerstone of affordable housing production in the United States for over 37 years, financing the construction of more than 3.7 million homes. This credit has been critical for creating housing opportunities for various underserved populations, including veterans, seniors, and working families. Despite its success, the nation continues to grapple with an escalating affordable housing crisis, marked by a significant shortfall in available housing and a rise in homelessness. Nearly 25% of renters, or over 10 million families, spend more than half of their household income on rent, significantly impacting their ability to afford other necessities. This bill will address this ongoing crisis by expanding and improving LIHTC (which would be renamed the “Affordable Housing Tax Credit”), stabilize financing for workforce housing projects, decrease the debt burden on new developments, and expand eligibility for Housing Credit funding.
• Cosponsored H.R. 1785, the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act: This bill would increase the tax credit for historic rehabilitation projects and modifies certain requirements for receiving the credit. The credit would increase from 20% to 30% for certain small projects whose qualified rehabilitation expenditures do not exceed $2.5 million. It would also expand the types of buildings eligible for rehabilitation by decreasing the requirement threshold. To date, the Historic Tax Credit program has helped raise more than $173 billion in private investment to revitalize over 45,000 historic buildings, creating more than 3 million jobs in the process. 
• Introduced H.R. 7360, the Promoting Affordable Childcare for Everyone Act (PACE Act): Families shouldn’t have to sacrifice their financial stability to provide their children with quality childcare. The PACE Act would modernize the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC) by making it refundable, increasing the credit rate, and indexing it to inflation, thereby expanding its reach to working parents. Additionally, the PACE Act increases the cap on Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts (DCFSAs) from $5,000 to $7,500 and adjusts it for inflation to better align with rising childcare costs. This pro-family bill ensures New York families can provide quality care for their children and enable parents to go back to work, helping to combat our nationwide worker shortage.

Ensuring Taxpayer Protections 

• Introduced H.R. 348, the Transparency in COVID-19 Expenditures Act: This bill would direct the Comptroller General of the United States to audit all funding provided by the five COVID-19 relief bills that Congress passed since March 2020. Since that time, Congress has spent $5.3 trillion in COVID-19 relief, but many provisions lacked adequate security measures and safeguards to ensure funding was distributed properly. As a result, alarming cases of fraud have cropped up across the country. This audit would ensure taxpayer dollars made it into the right hands and were spent responsibly. The audit would cover all COVID-19 relief spending bills, including the CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan Act. 
• Cosponsored H.R. 23, the Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act: This bill would prevent the Biden Administration and Congressional Democrats from unleashing over 87,000 new IRS agents to go after hardworking American families and small businesses with invasive audits, all to fund their far-left wish list. Americans deserve an IRS that works for them, not against them. I will continue to provide rigorous oversight of the IRS to ensure that its focus is on providing quality service to American taxpayers, instead of targeting them.
• Cosponsored H.Res. 237, Recognizing the importance of stepped-up basis under section 1014 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 in preserving family-owned farms and small businesses: This resolution would stand up against the Biden Administration's proposal to eliminate stepped-up basis. This important tax provision allows Americans to reset the value of their home, business, or farm for tax purposes when it is passed from one generation to the next.  The proposal from Democrats is yet another attack on hardworking family businesses.  We should be doing all we can to encourage the success of family businesses, not crush them with overbearing taxes.

Your views are always important to me. Please write to me on my website or call my office at 202-225-3665 with feedback, questions, or concerns.