Smucker Supports Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act
Washington—Rep. Lloyd Smucker (PA-11), a senior member of the Committee on Ways and Means, the House of Representative’s chief tax-writing committee, voted in favor of the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act, which passed with a strong bipartisan vote of 357 to 70.
“The Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act is a win for the taxpayers. It will grow our economy and support families struggling with high prices. And it’s responsibly paid for by addressing fraudulent claims of the employee retention credit. Importantly, this legislation prevents illegal immigrants from claiming the child tax credit by requiring a child to have a Social Security number to be eligible—an important safeguard that was implemented by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. This legislation extends critical components of the successful Tax Cuts and Jobs Act which helped increase median household income by over $6,000, led to low unemployment, and the lowest recorded poverty rate. I look forward to building on the successes contained in this legislation with continued work on tax reform in 2025,” said Rep. Lloyd Smucker.
Smucker supported this measure during the Ways and Means Committee markup, where the legislation was approved 40-3. Click here to watch his remarks from the Ways and Means Committee markup.
Background on the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act, courtesy of the Committee on Ways and Means:
Expands Innovation and Competitiveness with Pro-Growth Economic Policies
- Research & Development (R&D) expensing so businesses of all sizes can immediately deduct the cost of their U.S.-based R&D investments instead of over five years – encouraging American innovation and improving our competitive position versus China and the rest of the world.
- Interest deductibility: continued flexibility for businesses forced to borrow at higher interest rates to meet their payroll obligations and expand their operations.
- 100 percent expensing: restore full and immediate expensing for investments in machines, equipment, and vehicles.
- Taiwan double tax relief: strengthen America’s competitive position with China by removing the current double taxation that exists for businesses and workers with a footprint in both the United States and Taiwan.
Builds Up Main Street and Rebuilds Communities Struck by Disasters
- Expand small business expensing cap: increase the amount of investment that a small business can immediately write off to $1.29 million, an increase above the $1 million cap enacted in 2017.
- Cut red tape for small business: adjust the reporting threshold for businesses that use subcontract labor from $600 to $1,000 and index for inflation – the first update to the threshold since the 1950s.
- Help families get back on their feet with disaster tax relief covering recent hurricanes, flooding, wildfires, and the Ohio rail disaster.
Supports Working Families with an Enhanced Child Tax Credit
- Expand access to child tax credit: phased increase to the refundable portion of the child tax credit for 2023, 2024, and 2025.
- Eliminate penalty for larger families: ensure the child tax credit phase-in applies fairly to families with multiple children.
- One-year income lookback: flexibility for taxpayers to use either current- or prior-year income to calculate the child tax credit in 2024 or 2025, similar to bipartisan action taken six times in the past 15 years.
- Inflation relief: adjust the tax credit for inflation starting in 2024.
Eliminates Fraud and Waste by Ending the Employee Retention Tax Credit Program
- Saving over $70 billion in taxpayer dollars by accelerating the deadline for filing backdated claims to January 31, 2024, under the COVID-era employee retention tax credit – a program hit by major cost overruns and fraud.
Increases supply of low-income housing by enhancing the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, a public-private partnership with a proven track record, with increased state allocations and a reduced tax-exempt bond financing requirement.
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