Kevin Brady

Mr. BRADY of Texas

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Bishop), the lead sponsor of the Repeal the Death Tax Act, an Eagle Scout, Army veteran, key member.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. I am proud to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hurd).

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Madam Speaker, I have one further request for time.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Madam Speaker, I am proud to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from east Texas (Mr. Gohmert).

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Madam Speaker, I am proud to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Stutzman), a fourth-generation farmer.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Madam Speaker, to clarify, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 1105, the Death Tax Repeal Act of 2015.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Madam Speaker, I am proud to yield one 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Reichert), the leader of the Select Revenue Subcommittee on the Ways and Means Committee.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from South Dakota (Mrs. Noem), a key member of the Ways and Means Committee.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Montana (Mr. Zinke), a fifth-generation proud resident of his State.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Madam Speaker, I withdraw the reservation of the point of order.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank the gentleman from Nebraska for his leadership on ending this terrible tax. Can you imagine working your whole life to build up a family-owned business or a farm, and then, upon your death, Uncle Sam swoops in and takes nearly half of what you have spent a lifetime building up for your children and grandchildren? Can you imagine this case, as my friend from Washington talked about? This was a farm that had been in his family since the 1880s--five generations. It didn't start that size--it started small--and they built up over years and years and generations and generations. When the young woman went back to Texas--she actually worked up here and went back to Texas to settle her aunt's estate--she and her brother were forced to sell off two-thirds of the farm that they had had for five generations. They had to sell off two-thirds of it just to pay Uncle Sam, just to try to keep some small portion of what their family had worked so hard to build. These are real life examples of how the death tax is the wrong tax at the wrong time, and it hurts the wrong people. It is the number one reason family-owned businesses and farms aren't passed down to the next generations. It is at its heart an immoral tax, and it is an attack on the American Dream, especially more so for our newest startups in America--women- and minority-owned businesses that are building wealth for the first time, hoping that they can create a nest egg, that they can create a business for their children and grandchildren so that they have greater opportunities in this great country. I really want to thank my Democrat lead sponsor, Congressman Sanford Bishop of Georgia, for his leadership to repeal the death tax and for his belief that you shouldn't punish success. I want to thank my colleague on the Ways and Means Committee, Representative Kristi Noem; longtime champion, Congressman Mac Thornberry; and a former colleague of mine on the Ways and Means Committee, former Representative Kenny Hulshof, who carried this legislation for so long. The superrich don't pay this tax. They have a legion of lawyers and tax planners, and they have charitable trusts and foundations. They never pay this tax. These are family-owned, hard-working, risk-taking, determined Americans who are building their businesses, their farms, their ranches. These are not, as we will hear today, the Paris Hiltons and robber barons of the Teddy Roosevelt days. These are Americans who are often forced back to the bank for a loan or who are cruelly forced to sell their land and businesses just to satisfy the IRS. Death tax supporters will tell you this is all about income inequality, but it turns out, according to a former Federal Reserve Vice Chairman, with regard to income inequality only 2 percent is related to what people inherit. In America, it turns out we do build our prosperity. We pull ourselves up to prosperity. Some people say, Look, this thing generates $200-plus billion. Let me put this in perspective. For all of the damage it does to our family-owned businesses and farms, the damage it will do to our women- owned businesses and minority-owned businesses that are building wealth, it will generate less than 2 days of Federal spending a year, and it is declining. At the end of the day, there is a basic question: Is this your money and your hard work, or is this the government's money? Who has the claim over all of the years you have spent working? Why, at the end of the day, are we punishing success? Let's give children and let's give our families their shot at the American Dream and a better nation than the one, frankly, we inherited. That is why, today, we rise to bury the death tax once and for all. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 10 seconds. I would point out studies show we would generate more money by repealing this tax than keeping it because people wouldn't put their money into tax shelters and other things and instead would put it back in their business into job creation. I am proud to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelly), a leading member of the Committee on Ways and Means and a gentleman whose father started their business by the sweat of his brow.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Madam Speaker, I am proud to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Smith), another new member of the Ways and Means Committee who understands just how fragile these family-owned farms and businesses are.

Mr. BRADY of Texas

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation of a point of order.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, this motion is what people sort of hate about Washington. We say we stand for fairness for taxpayers in sales tax States but only for a few more months. We say we don't want to discriminate between you and people who are in income tax States but only for a few more months. Up here, Washington says, Look, we think you ought to keep more of what you have earned because it is expensive to raise a family but only for a few more months because we in Washington, they say, have the power to yank this any time we want. The truth of the matter is it is so expensive to raise families these days, and our Tax Code picks winners and losers all the time. What this provision does is make permanent the fairness to ensure taxpayers across America are treated equally, that this Tax Code doesn't discriminate, that you can keep a little more of the money it takes to raise your family, to buy that gas, to buy the school clothes, to pay the utilities. That is all that this law does. It is a step toward tax reform and reining in the IRS because it removes the asterisks from this temporary provision we extend year after year at the same cost. It is really about honest budgeting, because those who claim there is a huge cost of this, they are going to vote and have voted to extend this. So there is no difference there. It is just a talking point. At the end of the day, this creates a certainty for our taxpayers, removes that asterisk from a temporary provision, and moves us forward to progrowth tax reform that creates a much healthier economy and creates a Tax Code that is fair, flatter, and simpler. I urge support for permanently helping families with their costs and lowering the cost of their taxes. I urge support for this bill. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I reserve a point of order.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today to thank the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Mr. Paul Ryan, for bringing this measure to the floor and for offering hope to taxpayers in States across the country that they will be treated fairly. Mr. Ryan is making tax reform--fixing this broken Tax Code and reining in the IRS--a top priority. This measure actually helps take us a step toward that by creating certainty for taxpayers in sales tax States by creating more honest scorekeeping in budgeting. Because we are going to extend this temporarily, it makes no difference in our doing it permanently, but it helps create that honest scorekeeping, and it removes the asterisk from this provision so we can do tax reform, which creates a much healthier economy. If you support fairness for taxpayers in sales tax States as well as those that have income taxes, if you believe we ought not to discriminate depending on where you live, and that we ought not force States into income taxes that believe a sales tax is the right way to go, this measure is for you. I acknowledge the President has threatened a veto on this bill. I guess my question is: Why turn your back on hard-working taxpayers? Middle class economics means helping families keep more of what they earn, especially those who are living paycheck to paycheck. Today, we will stand for families and fairness in making sure they can keep a little bit more of what they earn. I urge support for a permanent extension of the important State and local sales tax deduction. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Black), one of our key members of the Ways and Means Committee who has been fighting for this as a Representative from Tennessee, and as a small business owner, she knows how expensive it is for families who work and live along Main Street.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. Herrera Beutler), a distinguished Member of the House who has been fighting for the State and local sales tax deduction and, as a new mom, understands just how expensive it is to raise families these days.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I claim the time in opposition to the gentleman's motion.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Madam Speaker, I am proud to honor and yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sam Johnson), one of the key leaders of the Ways and Means Committee who has been in this fight to successfully restore and extend the sales tax deduction for many years.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Reichert), the leader of our tax reform subcommittee and a champion in restoring the State and local sales tax deduction.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I want to thank my colleagues, Jim McDermott and Marsha Blackburn, for joining me in leading the fight to make this middle class tax provision permanent. This provision is about tax fairness and equal treatment. If taxpayers in income tax States can deduct their State and local income taxes, so should residents of sales tax States. That, in America, is just fair. This provision helps hard-working taxpayers keep a little more of what they earn, which is even more important to families, given their stagnant paychecks over the past number of years. More than 10 million American taxpayers in nine States depend on this commonsense deduction, and the dollars that stay in the local community help grow their community rather than grow Washington's economy. A permanent State and local sales tax deduction provides certainty to American families, makes Federal budget scorekeeping more honest, and removes the asterisk from this temporary provision so the progrowth tax reform can advance. It is certainly important to Texas. Since it has been restored, my neighbors have saved more than $10 billion, which buys a lot of school clothes, gas for your car, and helps with rising college costs. To be sure, this provision isn't reserved just for sales tax States. It allows all American taxpayers to choose whether they deduct their State and local income taxes or their State and local sales taxes, whichever is greater. That is fair. That is equal treatment. Let's be honest. Extending this provision temporarily year after year, which is exactly what has been done since 2004, that won't cost any more than making it permanent today and creating that certainty and fairness for taxpayers. I want to urge my colleagues to join me in supporting middle class families by making this provision permanent. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BRADY of Texas

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 200, I call up the bill (H.R. 622) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to make permanent the deduction of State and local general sales taxes, and ask for its immediate consideration.