Congressional Republicans Offer Support for Extending Tax Cuts and Credits

WASHINGTON—Four Republican legislators in the House spoke to The Floridian regarding the possibility of extending President Donald Trump's Tax Cuts And Jobs Act of 2017 and the enhanced premium tax credits for Marketplace plans, which was introduced in 2021.

The Floridian discussed these tax cuts and credits with Representatives Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), Jodey Arrington (R-TX), August Pfluger (R-TX), and Mike Kennedy (R-UT) and asked whether they were in favor of them. All four offered their support for both.

Rep. Salazar mentioned the monetary figures that come with extending the cuts and what that means to taxpayers.

"Of course, it's going to cost $4 trillion to the average taxpayer if we don't expand them, then you have to pay more taxes a year, I think it's around $2,000 more per family," said Rep. Salazar.

When asked why Democrats do not support these cuts, the Florida congresswoman stated that she doesn't understand their line of reasoning.

"I'm not sure why, but we saw what the tax breaks did in '17, '18, and '19, so why would you not be in favor of that? I mean, everyone got bonuses from their companies. Some of the companies transferred those taxes that were paying less to their employees, they bought more equipment, they gave bonuses, they grew the economy. It's simple," concluded Salazar.

Rep. Arrington said that extending the cuts would grant the United States some reprieve from former President Joe Biden's (D) policies.

"I think [the tax cuts] are incredibly important if you want to get this economy off a high center which is a result of the bad policies of the previous administration. Mainly, too much taxing, too much regulating, too much paying people not to work," said Rep. Arrington. "So, if we're going to move this economy forward, and if we're going to have the rocket ship effect on our economy that President Trump talked about, tax cuts are central to that, but so are spending cuts. Reducing the spending that is driving our deficits and unsustainable debt have a far greater impact on economic growth. So does deregulation. So does good energy policy."

Arrington continued, sharing that tax cuts are not only the Republican's priority when focusing on fixing the economy.

"So, tax cuts are central to the economic agenda, but they're not the only piece of it. And here's the other thing: we can't afford to put on the American people what is effectively a $400 billion tax hike for families. 91% of them take the standard deduction that'd be cut in half. The average taxpayer is going to get a 22% tax hike if we don't extend [the cuts]. This is after a 21% tax hike from Biden inflation. So it's unsustainable for families to take a tax hike at this point.

"They should be able to deal with the cost of living crisis that happened under the previous president," said Arrington.

Moreover, Rep. Pfluger stated that "mainstream America" would benefit from the "no-brainer" tax cut extension.

"What President Trump did in 2017 to build this package of tax cuts allowed every American family to put money back into their pockets, and that's what we're going to do," said Rep. Pfluger.

Finally, Rep. Kennedy of Utah mentioned that as a small business owner, these tax cuts have been beneficial and deserve to be extended.

"When we cut taxes and we end up building our economy, people can invest in their own businesses, their own personal economy. So, I obviously want to see the Trump tax cuts expanded," said Kennedy, and he added his belief that this is the consensus among Republicans as well.

Florida and Texas are the top two states benefiting from enhanced premium tax credits, which makes health coverage more affordable for more than 7.4 million residents in those states.