Costello a ‘yes’ vote on tax reform bill
U.S. Reps. Ryan Costello, R-6, Pat Meehan, R-7, say tax cuts will help their constituents
WASHINGTON, D.C. » The region’s two moderate Republican congressmen backed the Republican tax reform bill when it came to a floor vote.
U.S. Rep. Ryan Costello, R-6, of West Goshen voted in favor of the bill. U.S. Rep. Pat Meehan, R-7, of Chadds Ford, while not specifically declared himself a ‘yes’ vote, said the measure will help his constituents.
“I plan to vote yes,” said Costello, R-6, of West Goshen in an interview Wednesday. “My priorities are to provide tax cuts for middle-income families andmake the tax code more competitive in the global economy. This bill accomplishes those objectives.”
Costello, whose district encompasses central, eastern, and northern Chester County, as well as portions of western Montgomery County and parts of Berks
and Lebanon counties, had been considered an undeclared voice in the days leading up to the vote. But what he characterized as a thorough review of the bill’s details and the “critiques and criticisms” of the package, which seeks to cut taxes by about $1.5 trillion, that came to him from outside groups and constituents, led him to support it.
Meehan, who represents the bulk of Delaware County aswell as slivers of four other suburban counties, said the measure will be beneficial for his constituents.
“Middle-class Pennsylvania families deserve to earn more and keep more of what they earn,” he said. “The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will help them do it. Amiddle-income family of four in Pennsylvania’s 7th District will see a tax cut of more than $5,000. That’s moremoney in their pockets to make a mortgage payment or put their kids through school.”
He said independent analysts determined that almost 40,000 jobs would be created in the state as a result of this legislation.
“I’m pleased to see the additional refinements and improvements made over the course of the committee’s markup, like the inclusion of the Adoption Tax Credit,” Meehan said, adding that the Family Credit expands the existing child tax credit and adds a new credit for each parent and non-child dependent to help cover expenses.
Deductions for mortgage interest, charitable contributions, 401(k) retirement savings and state and local property taxes remain while also giving small businesses a tax cut, he said.
“Most importantly,” Meehan said, “it brings real tax relief to thosewho need it most: hardworking Pennsylvania taxpayers.”
Several groups led by Delco Indivisible, Havertown Area Community Action Network Indivisible, Indivisible Upper Darby, Indivisible Main Line South and POWER are planning a rally in front of Meehan’s Springfield office today from 4:30-6 p.m.
Costello maintained that the increase in the standard deduction, as well as lowering the overall tax rates for families would ultimately benefit the residents of the 6th District that may now itemize deductions. “It is my sincere belief that this bill will help the overwhelmingmajority of constituents in my district,” he said, calling it a “tough issue.”
“It lowers the tax rates on the lower income brackets, and doubles the standard deduction, which is what an estimated 93 percent of Americans will look to take,” Costello said in an interview fromhis office in Washington. “It also lowers the tax rates on the foreign earnings of American companies” bringing back those companies from overseas, “creating new jobs, wage growth, and more economic activity.”
Costello estimated that wages for middle income earners in Pennsylvania would increase by $2,500 over the next 10 years. He also said that without cuts in the corporate tax rates, continued moves overseas by major firms would mean the loss of jobs at home. “We will be less competitive in the global marketplace,” he said.
The GOP has sought to move quickly to push forward on the first rewrite of the U.S. tax code in three decades, with a vote in the House set ahead of action
inthe Senate, where procedural rules are more complex and the party’s edge much tighter.
There are a host of differences in the bills put forth by leadership in the two chambers. The House bill allows homeowners to deduct up to $10,000 in property taxes while the Senate proposal unveiled by GOP leaders eliminates the entire deduction. Both bills would eliminate deductions for state and local income taxes and sales taxes paid. They would also reduce the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent, though the Senate version delays the cut for one year.
The House versions has four tax brackets — 12 percent, 25 percent, 35 percent and 39.6 percent — while the Senate keeps seven but lowers them all to 10 percent, 12 percent, 22.5 percent, 25 percent, 32.5 percent, 35 percent and 38.5 percent. The House would lower the top corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent next year, and the Senate would do it starting in 2019.
The House bill allows a deduction for up to $10,000 in property taxes, but end deductions for income or sales taxes; the Senate would eliminate all of them.
Costello said that although he would vote yes on the bill, there are provisions included that he had concerns about, including the way the legislation treats major medical expenses and the estate tax. He said he supports continued allowance of deductions for medial costs and opposed the way the bills treat estate taxes. The House would double the current exemption to apply only to estates worth more than $10million next year, and phase the tax out completely over six years; the Senate bill would double the exemption next year but otherwise keep the tax, according to one analysis.
Democrats have called the GOP plan to cut taxes an exercise in giving to the rich and taking away from middle income earners. An analysis released Monday by Congress’ nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation found that the Senate overhaul bill would increase taxes for some 13.8 million moderate-income American households.
President Donald Trump and the Republicans have promoted the legislation as a boon to themiddle class, bringing tax relief to people with moderate incomes and boosting the economy to create new jobs.
“This bill is not a massive tax cut for the wealthy. This is not a big giveaway to corporations,” U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, insisted as the panel had its first day of debate on the Senate measure.
Hatch also downplayed the analysis by congressional tax experts showing a tax increase for several million U.S. households under the Senate proposal. Hatch said “a relatively small minority of taxpayers could see a slight increase in their taxes.”
The committee’s senior Democrat, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, said the legislation has become “a massive handout to multinational corporations and a bonanza for tax cheats and powerful political donors.”
Costello, a member of the moderate Tuesday Group of congressmen, said he anticipated that he will be criticized for his vote from the left. But he noted that conservative groups had been in his district pushing him in recent days to support the bill, so that a “no” vote would have brought fire fromthe other side.
Democrat Chrissy Houlahan of Tredyffrin, a presumed candidate for the 6th District in 2018, released a statement Tuesday urging Costello to oppose the current House Republican tax plan.
“As someone who has helped grow businesses and nonprofits that have created good paying jobs in our community, I know that we need a simplified tax code that eases the burden on the middle-class and small businesses,” she said. “This plan does the opposite in Pennsylvania’s 6th Congressional District, hiking taxes on many middle-class families while adding trillions to our deficit and giving tax breaks to the super wealthy who need it least. What’s worse, Representative Costello already voted to move this shameful tax scam forward.
“This bill needs to be stopped. Representative Costello must strongly and unequivocally oppose any effort to move it forward and must vote against its passage. Anything less is unacceptable.” — Democrat Chrissy Houlahan of Tredyffrin, in a released statement
“This bill needs to be stopped,” Houlahan said in her release. Representative Costello must strongly and unequivocally oppose any effort to move it forward and must vote against its passage. Anything less is unacceptable.”
Costello said, however, that he believed much of the criticism of the bill was coming from those who had not studied it. “A lot of the attacks are manufactured without consideration of the accuracy of their claims. Because the tax debate is being done in such a short period of time, it is very easy to create confusion.”
He said he fully expects the Senate to pass a different version of the tax reform bill than the House, and that he will eventually be asked to vote on a third, compromise legislative package when the time comes. “Over the next nine months, when a tax calculator is put online and people can see what their taxes will be, I predict they will see that they will benefit overall.
“Instead of accepting the status quo of our broken tax code, I’m focused on giving the overwhelming majority of constituents who I represent a tax cut, along with economic growth and more jobs created,” he said.
Digital FirstMedia staff writer Kathleen E. Carey contributed to this report.