By Rep. Adrian Smith
Severe inflation, stock market turbulence, and troubling workforce data have driven recent economic concerns for American families already struggling to make ends meet. Moreover, our national debt has swelled to surpass $35 trillion—$12.74 trillion higher than the total national debt before the pandemic. Over the past year alone, the debt has grown by $6.73 billion per day.
A disappointing July jobs report and a rising unemployment rate—the country’s highest since 2021—clearly show how Biden-Harris policies of massive spending and growing debt are failing to create private sector economic growth.
Because a strong workforce is a critical component of economic growth, it is worrisome the U.S. workforce participation rate has still not recovered from where it was in 2020 when mass lay-offs due to COVID lockdowns and business closures sent American workers home for weeks, months, and sometimes years. American businesses have largely re-opened and recovered thanks to the Trump-era development of COVID tests, therapeutics, and vaccines, as well as a much greater understanding of the disease.
Although we cannot afford not to bring American workers back off the sidelines and connect them to opportunities via the many employers still eager to hire, the Biden-Harris administration continues to push economic policies demonstrated to drive up inflation and drive down workforce participation such as a return to their 2021 expansion of the Child Tax Credit expansion which mailed monthly checks to millions of Americans regardless of whether they were working.
Despite these challenges, we do not have to resign the fate of the economy to weakness and uncertainty. We know what it takes to strengthen the American economy and get our fiscal house in order. Yet, the misguided policies of the Biden-Harris Administration instead push us further in the wrong direction, and hard-working Americans are paying the price for bad policy.
The sensational economic boon of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) demonstrated how stability in the tax code can bolster both American job creators and workers through increased corporate investment and higher wages. With many of TCJA’s successful policies set to expire in 2025, we must work to secure for the long term gains which unquestionably benefitted Americans of all income brackets.
The Biden-Harris administration has expressed opposition to renewing TCJA tax cuts which were directly targeted to reward families for working harder and small businesses for investing in America. Instead, the administration has made clear it would prefer to raise taxes on small businesses in order to fund a resumption of their welfare policies disguised as tax credits. This is indefensible. TCJA laid out a clear path to growth across the economy, and while no tax package is perfect, we must look at the big picture and renew policies which benefitted so many Americans. I firmly believe this goal should enjoy bipartisan support.
As a member of the House’s primary tax writing committee, I am working hard to move discussion and debate forward. As Chair of the Ways and Means Rural America Tax Team, I am holding roundtables and meetings with my colleagues and agriculture industry stakeholders to hear directly how tax policy impacts our farmers and ranchers. The Ways and Means Committee has announced it will hold a field hearing at the Iowa State Fair on August 16 to hear testimony on and highlight the positive impact and importance of the 2017 Trump tax cuts for American families, farmers, workers, and small businesses.
Raising taxes during a time when our economic future is in jeopardy would absolutely be the wrong direction. If we can bend the curve on spending, multiply the number of good-paying jobs in our country, and incentivize production and growth, we can restore responsibility, strength, and prosperity to our economy.