On Friday, Vice President Mike Pence joined me in Charlotte for an event highlighting Tax Reform’s tremendous impact.
The main takeaway from the event can be summarized in two sentences: Americans are seeing their paychecks grow, businesses are reinvesting in our communities, and folks in North Carolina and across the country are once again confident about the future. Thanks to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, America’s economy is roaring back to life and hardworking Americans are winning again.
The event began with a panel discussion where Senator Tillis, local business leader Dan DiMicco and I highlighted the ways in which North Carolinians are benefiting from Tax Reform.
We noted that numerous local businesses are creating new jobs, increasing wages and providing their employees with bonuses and expanded benefits. For example, right here in Charlotte, Charlotte Pipe and Foundry and Steelfab awarded $1,000 bonuses to all of their employees.
After the panel, Vice President Pence gave a rousing speech touting President Trump’s accomplishments and celebrating the biggest winners from Tax Cuts and Jobs Act: hardworking Americans who, for far too long, have suffered under a burdensome and overpowering federal government.
These tax cuts were aimed at allowing you to keep more of your hard-earned money. As such, we slashed tax rates, doubled the standard deduction and doubled the Child Tax Credit. A typical family of four will save over $2,000 a year. To Nancy Pelosi, these savings are “crumbs.” To hardworking families in North Carolina and around the country, it’s real money that can go towards the mortgage, a new car, or the kid’s college tuition.
We are also taking the headache out of the tax filing process. Anyone who has filed taxes before can attest to the fact that the process is confusing, burdensome and too time consuming. To remedy this, our new system is designed to allow for quick and simple filing. In fact, most Americans will now be able to file their taxes on a single sheet of paper.
Many on the left tend to forget that private businesses create the vast majority of jobs in the country, not the federal government. Yet unfortunately, for years, job-creating businesses have been held back by our old tax code, which inflicted the highest business tax rate in the world. This is a key factor in why America’s economy was so sluggish during the Obama Administration.
That is why, as Vice President Pence highlighted during the event, we reduced the business tax rates to levels comparable with the rest of industrialized world. By making our business tax rate globally competitive, we have once again made America the best nation on earth to start and grow a business. As a result, businesses of all shapes and sizes are reinvesting in America. They are growing, creating new plants, expanding their domestic operational capacity and creating new, well playing jobs.
When businesses do well, hardworking Americans reap the rewards. More than 500 companies have announced wage hikes, bonuses and employee benefit increases. Apple, Toyota and many other large companies are moving jobs back to America and expanding their domestic operations.
We are also providing much needed relief to small and family owned businesses, which are the main drivers of America’s economic engine. Under the old tax code, small businesses were hamstrung by tax rates as high as 45%. We should be helping small businesses grow, not holding them back. That is why
we greatly reduced the small business tax rate so they can invest in their future, raise wages for employees, and create new jobs. This isn’t speculative. Small businesses are reporting record levels of economic optimism.
By cutting rates, enabling businesses to grow and allowing Americans to keep more of their hard-earned money, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has sparked a national economic revival.
After years of stagnation, America’s economy is booming. The stock market has been on a record tear and unemployment is now at a 49-year low. U.S. manufacturing is expanding at its fastest rate in nearly 14 years as rural communities across the country are seeing jobs return. With consumer confidence at a 17 year high, folks are optimistic about the future.
Under the leadership of President Trump and Vice President Pence, our economy is booming and hardworking Americans are winning again. As the Vice President remarked, America is back, and we are just getting started.
Congressman Robert Pittenger (NC-09) is chairman of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, vice chairman of the Subcommittee on Terrorism and Illicit Finance, and serves on the House Financial Services Committee, with a special focus on supporting small businesses, community banks, and credit unions.