And, honoring Texas Tech’s Kent Hance
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON, D.C. – Every week, I hear from farmers, ranchers, and small business owners who are hoping for a simpler, fairer tax code that will help them grow their businesses. Tax reform can help us strengthen the economy and create jobs. How?
Well, for one thing, small businesses waste about 1.7 billion hours each year on tax compliance. And small businesses spend more than $18 billion each year on tax compliance costs—not on taxes; on complying with tax policy. Freeing up that time and money allows business owners to invest in new equipment, new employees, and business expansion—and that benefits everyone.
Part of simplifying the tax code is putting an end to temporary provisions that expire after a few years. Temporary policy is problematic because it doesn’t allow businesses to make long-term plans.
House Republicans are working on permanent, comprehensive tax reform, but there’s a long road ahead for that policy.
In the meantime, farmers, ranchers, and business owners are struggling because an important tax provision has expired. The Section 179 expensing allowance allows businesses to purchase new equipment and deduct the entire depreciation amount in a single year.
For instance, if a farmer buys a new combine, he could deduct its lifetime depreciation from his tax return that same year, which makes the purchase more affordable. With some farm equipment costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, Section 179 expensing gives the farmer the ability to not only improve his or her operation in a fiscally responsible manner, but also to invest money in the local economy.
I want to help our farmers, ranchers, and business owners invest in our local economy, so I sent a letter to House and Senate leadership today urging them to return the Section 179 allowance to its former levels for a minimum of two years.
I explained that, “Small businesses drive our economy, and tax policy that encourages growth, investment, and expansion means more jobs for Americans.”
You can read the full text of the letter here.
A Plan to Balance the Budget
In last week’s Roundup survey, I asked you to weigh in on Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget proposal. The majority of you shared your support for his plan. I agree that our country can’t go on spending more than we take in. A balanced budget is necessary to take control of our debt and revive our economy.
So last week I voted for Rep. Paul Ryan’s 2015 budget proposal, the Path to Prosperity, which will get our nation back on a fiscally responsible track.
Chairman Ryan’s budget sets total spending and revenue levels for the upcoming year, and lays the groundwork for our upcoming appropriations discussions. I’m pleased it makes necessary cuts to start tackling our nation’s sky-rocketing debt.
It cuts $5.1 trillion of wasteful spending and will balance the books by 2025. It also addresses the auto-pilot programs that are driving our debt. Two-thirds of federal spending goes to mandatory programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and—increasingly—interest on the national debt. We can’t get our spending under control without addressing these programs.
I’ll keep you updated as we hammer out the specifics of next year’s spending and work on appropriations bills.
Honoring a Great Red Raider
Last week, I hosted a special order on the House Floor honoring Texas Tech Chancellor Kent Hance. Kent was my teacher at Tech many years ago, and since then, he’s been a friend, mentor, and inspiration to me.
I was joined by nine Members of Congress who shared their own memories of Chancellor Hance and praised his work at Texas Tech. Members who couldn’t join us on the floor wrote letters about Kent that I read into the Congressional Record.
They were joined by officials including Governor Rick Perry, Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, and former President George W. Bush, all of whom commended the Chancellor’s work.
But I suspect the letters that meant the most to Chancellor Hance came from current and former Tech students who shared what he meant to them as a teacher and mentor.
