Arizona congressman raises concerns with House Republicans’ tax plan
Nov 5, 2017, 5:34 PM | Updated: Nov 6, 2017, 11:23 am
(AP Photo/Bob Christie, File)
(AP Photo/Bob Christie, File)
PHOENIX — U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) voiced his concerns with a tax plan unveiled by House Republicans last week, saying there are several provisions he would like to see modified before the plan advances.
In a statement issued on Friday, Biggs said he opposes the removal of a tax credit for adoptive families and believes it should be “protected to incentivize American adoptions.”
In addition, Biggs said the legislation should take effect from Jan. 1, “allowing everyone to feel immediate effects of the reform.”
“Sadly, if this tax package was enacted today as currently written, Americans would have to wait over a year to receive most benefits,” he said.
Third, Biggs said the “tax rates need to be reduced for everyone,” but did not expand on that detail.
But despite his concerns, Biggs said there was “much to like” about the plan and he believes millions of people will benefit from its passage.
“We are on the right track with this proposal,” he said. “I will continue to work with my colleagues to make sure this legislation is good for Arizona’s Fifth Congressional District and the rest of the country.”
House Republicans unfurled their broad tax-overhaul plan last week.
The plan would touch virtually all Americans and the economy’s every corner, mingling sharply lower rates for corporations and reduced personal taxes for many with fewer deductions for home-buyers and families with steep medical bills.
It would also increase the national debt, a problem for some Republicans.
The measure, which would be the most extensive rewrite of the nation’s tax code in three decades, is the product of a party that faces increasing pressure to produce a marquee legislative victory of some sort before next year’s elections.
GOP leaders touted the plan as a sparkplug for the economy and a boon to the middle class and christened it the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
“We are working to give the American people a giant tax cut for Christmas,” President Donald Trump said in the Oval Office. The measure, he said, “will also be tax reform, and it will create jobs.”
Democrats attacked the proposal as the GOP’s latest bonanza for the rich, with a phase-out of the inheritance tax and repeal of the alternative minimum tax on the highest earners — certain to help Trump and members of his family and Cabinet, among others.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
