10/06/2004

Tax Cutter-in-Chief

This week, President Bush came to Iowa to sign the fourth major tax cut during his four years in office. From my position as Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over all tax issues, I’ve helped author and lead Senate consideration of each of these cuts.

It makes a significant difference when there is someone in the White House that realizes that people are over taxed. A few hundred dollars may not mean a lot to most politicians in Washington, D.C., but President Bush understands that it does mean a lot to a family struggling to make ends meet. That’s why he has worked with me to cut taxes for EVERY American.

The bill that the President signed extended tax relief that we initially passed in 2001 that was geared towards working families. It benefits families by:

• keeping the per-child tax credit at $1,000
• retaining the provision that gives married couples relief from the marriage penalty
• extending the 10 percent tax bracket that helps all tax payers
• making sure more middle-income families aren’t hit by the Alternative Minimum Tax, which was designed to make sure that wealthy taxpayers pay their fair share but is hitting more middle-income families.

These cuts make a real difference in people’s lives. For example, a married couple with two children earning $50,000 will see a tax savings of $925 next year because of this bill. Or, a married couple with one child earning $25,000 will save $430 on their taxes. These cuts are providing a needed boost to working families.

I have also attached an article from the Associated Press about the bill signing. I especially like the last two paragraphs!

Chuck Grassley

Bush signs Tax Relief Act

By DAVID PITT Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press
DES MOINES, Iowa

President Bush visited the swing state of Iowa on Monday to sign the Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004, which he said would mean lower tax bills for 94 million Americans.

"It comes at just the right time for America. Some of the provisions were set to expire at the end of 2004 ..." he said. "That would have been a setback for hardworking families of America and a setback for our economy."

Bush introduced Mike and Sharla Hintz, a couple from Clive, whom he said benefited from his tax plan.

Last year, because of the enhanced the child tax credit, they received an extra $1,600 in their tax refund, Bush said. With other tax cuts in the bill, they saved $2,800 on their income taxes.

They used the money to buy a wood-burning stove to more efficiently heat their home, made some home improvements and went on a vacation to Minnesota, the president said.

"Next year, maybe they'll want to come to Texas," Bush quipped.

Mike Hintz, a First Assembly of God youth pastor, said the tax cuts also gave him additional money to use for health care.

He said he supports Bush's values.

"The American people are starting to see what kind of leader President Bush is. People know where he stands," he said.

"Where we are in this world, with not just the war on terror, but with the war with our culture that's going on, I think we need a man that is going to be in the White House like President Bush, that's going to stand by what he believes.

"Everybody that I've talked to are saying that things are going to start going his way," Hintz said.

Surrounded by Republican members of Iowa's congressional delegation, Bush signed the bill and handed the pen to Sen. Charles Grassley, giving him credit for getting the bill passed.

White House spokesman Jim Morrell said last week that the bill-signing ceremony was a way "for the president to show his appreciation for Sen. Grassley's leadership on this issue."

Grassley, chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, also took some gentle ribbing from the president for a current campaign commercial that shows him mowing his lawn. In the ad, Grassley is on a riding lawnmower, towing two push-mowers on ropes behind him to broaden his path.

"The south lawn of the White House has a lot of grass. I'm looking for somebody to mow it," Bush told Grassley. "Mr. Chairman, you should now be known as grass-mower."

Please visit my website at www.GrassleyWorks.com