Washington, D.C. - U.S. Congressman Kevin Brady (R-The Woodlands)  and Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison today spearheaded a bi-partisan, multi-state press rally on Capitol Hill to insist that meaningful sales tax deductibility remain in the American Jobs Creation Act conference report.  

 

Brady, the majority deputy whip who led the successful effort in the Ways & Means Committee to add language to the international tax bill which restores the ability for taxpayers to deduct state and local sales taxes from their federal income tax said, “Today, key members of the House and Senate, Republican and Democrat alike, are uniting to send a powerful message: We are not going home without sales tax deductibility.”

 

Continued Brady, “For nearly two decades the door of sales tax deductibility has been locked tight, discriminating against one out of every five American taxpayers simply because of where they live. The U.S. House of Representatives, with key support from Majority Leader Tom Delay, has opened that door.

 

“We have a rare opportunity this fall to restore fairness, ease the tax burden on working families, and provide an economic boost directly to Main Street.  Senators and House members from sales tax states must stand together now or risk losing this opportunity for perhaps yet another two decades.”  

 

In June, Congressman Brady’s Sales Tax Equity Act was included into the America Jobs Creation Act, H.R. 4520 and passed the House of Representatives.  The Senate passed version of same bill did not contain the sales tax deduction provision. 

 

Flanked with over 30 House and Senate members from both sides of the aisle and across the nation, Brady is now shifting his attention and efforts to the conferees who will iron out the differences between the House and Senate bills. 

 

The sales tax deductibility provision restores the sales tax deduction Congress eliminated in 1986 providing for the deduction of state and local sales taxes.  Once the measure becomes law, taxpayers could choose to deduct either their state and local income or sales taxes. With sales tax, they could choose from a table of average deductions or provide receipts, recommended in years when cars, appliances, and other big-ticket items are purchased.

 

Preliminary estimates indicate that restoring this measure could keep nearly $1 billion in Texas pockets, save an average family of four roughly $300, and create nearly 16,500 jobs annually.

 

Three of the Senate conferees for the American Jobs Act are from sales tax states, Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD), Senator Bob Graham (D-FL), and Senator Craig Thomas (R-WY).  The House is expected to name their conferees in the near future. 

 

Attending the press conference today were:  House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Senators Alexander, Enzi, Murray, and Cantwell.  Representatives Wamp, Blackburn, Davis, Cooper, Gordon, Sandlin, Turner, Johnson, Hensarling, Culberson, Lampson, Edwards, Hinojosa, Reyes, Neugebauer, Frost, Sessions, Burgess, Green, Carter, Berkley, Porter, Baird, Hastings, Dunn, Foley, Feeney, L. Diaz-Balart.