A press release from Congressman Peter Roskam
Roskam: Tax bill law modernizes rules, promotes growth
For all its intricacies, Republican U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam says the new tax law does two things: modernize the tax code and promote growth in the American economy.
Roskam, one of the congressional leaders who guided the law to approval by President Donald Trump Dec. 22, recently told the Daily Herald’s editorial board he strongly believes the changes will help constituents in his 6th District.
“The overarching significance of a good, pro-growth tax policy that is inclusive and is not for the few, but really tries to offer broad tax relief,” Roskam said, “is, at its foundation, really significant long-term for the health of our country.”
The Wheaton Republican said legislators wanted to update a system that last was overhauled in 1986, so they decided to take on debt to allow for lower tax rates overall for individuals.
Lower rates, he said, will put more money into consumers’ pockets and drive growth.
Peter Roskam
“Anytime you’re borrowing and you’ve got a $20 trillion debt, that’s a controversial decision,” Roskam said. “I think it was a good decision. I think it will bear out to be a good decision the further we get into the tax debate.”
News that several high-profile companies, including AT&T, Boeing and Comcast, have given bonuses or raises because of the policy proves the change will help the economy, Roskam said.
While some say a bonus here and there isn’t going to drastically alter the economy, Roskam said it can be a difference-maker.
“One thousand dollars is not crumbs to a lot of people in my district,” he said. “You’re a working family, you’re trying to put it together, and $1,000 is a lot of money, and it has an impact on the things that you can do for your children and the things that you can do for your future.”
The tax law’s critics include the seven Democrats who are running in the March 20 primary, trying to become Roskam’s opponent in November.
Democratic candidates said the new policy benefits the rich and creates a “path to inequality.” They called for changes that would more strongly benefit the middle class.
One immediate effect of the tax law sparked a flurry of suburban residents prepaying property taxes, in hopes the payments can be deducted under old rules. New rules cap the amount of state and local taxes that can be deducted at $10,000, and many in the 6th District pay more than that in property taxes alone.
“The new law was silent as to the ability to prepay property taxes,” Roskam said, but he said he is working closely with the Internal Revenue Service and the House Ways and Means Committee to try to ensure people will see the advantage of early payment.
Still, he said that analyzing the whole array of changes, including a standard deduction increased to $24,000 for couples and a child tax credit doubled to $2,000, the law will produce positive results. He said a sample family in the 6th District — with a median income of $135,000 a year for a husband, wife and two children — is projected to receive a $4,000 tax cut.
“When you evaluate all of these things,” Roskam said, “even if the deductions go down, the way the rates are structured, it offers tax relief.”
Critics say the tax law discourages homeownership and could decrease charitable giving because the higher standard deduction will lead fewer filers to itemize.
To both of these, Roskam says the answer is economic growth, which he says the tax law will provide. The more the economy grows, the more money people have, the more likely they are to buy houses, he said. And the more money people make, the more they have to give.
“We’re a generous country,” he said. “We celebrate this. We want a big civil society because we, as a country, have made a cultural decision as Americans that we highly value the nonprofit sector.”
When the interest rates really start rising (have you noticed the rise in the last 3 years?), residential home prices DECLINE.
Coupled with the atrocious tax hikes in McHenry, Lake, etc. (to transfer wealth from the productive to the destructive), you have a fine recipe for further White Flight of taxed out producers.
an interesting video Jack Franks won’t like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uhv–m-9qg
Before you attack me because I am a liberal shill, please thoughtfully consider the following questions: Has anyone on this blog seen attributable ‘growth’ in their 401k since the tax bill passing? Has anyone seen a raise? Has anyone seen profit share as a result of ‘growth?’
Probably no because it’s still too early to tell what the results of this bill will be. I think Roskam is putting the cart before the tax bill on this one.
Politically, Roskam says $1,000 is a lot of money and his constituents should be pleased by this break if that’s what they received. I think it’s highly questionable that those in his constituency making that little will draw a line from the politics of Washington to their bank account and thank the GOP for their $1,000.
Fair Play – My 401 k is up 42%, my brother at UPS received a bonus, My step son at Home Depot will see $250 bonus as a part time employee,
I and my wife will each see a 3% increase in take home because our Fed Withholding went down 3%.
Imagine that? We are private sector employees and received a 3% raise as of our next paycheck (verified in ADP App this morning)
I know its not the 6% raises a Public Union employee may see but as of right now this is a positive.
To Millionaires such as your Dear Leader Nancy Pelosi this is “Crumbs”, I mean she is worth 100+ Million as a public servant, and clearly out of touch as most Dem Leaders.
$6000 a year would not cover her weekly makeup costs. But to me, a serf who needs very little to get by on because of cut backs based on the last 10 years of increasing taxes, economic malaise and decreasing take home pay.
The only downside is the inevitable Illinois political Class asking for more taxes to pay for the sinking ship as Rauner will lose General and unless we have another candidate, the Dems and Political Hogs of Illinois will use this bounty as cover for seeking even more money from serfs like me.
One more thing Fair play. The financial markets have been pricing in the pro growth Trump promises well before they were voted on.
So if I understand the basis for your initial question then I wont call you a shill but instead just assume you do not have a practical knowledge or education on how economies and markets work.
@Froggy – Your 401K is up 42% since the tax bill passing? I literally don’t believe that for a moment. I am in an aggressive posture with mine and up 14.7% since December. Are you mark-to-market tracking your future earnings because that sounds like some magical accounting.
Your brother at UPS received a bonus, huh? How much? And great for your stepson, he can’t buy two shares of home depot stock with that, which would have been a better choice by the company given how now they are going to dilute their corporate earnings by 19% and adversely affect stock performance for 2019. But I just don’t understand how markets work, so maybe I’m just wrong and don’t understand or have the practical knowledge of how economies and markets work.
Nancy Pelosi isn’t my dear leader any more than the Monopoly man is your diety. But I do know that public sector employees receive a 3% COLA, not a 6% raise, but I guess you do not have a practical knowledge or education on how public sector employees’ pensions are structured to know this. And what does that even mean, “The financial markets have been pricing in the pro-growth Trump promises well before they were voted on?” Oh, so now you are an oracle of the entirety of the private sector? Broad brush, lack specifics, Froggy the Taxpayer gets 2/5 stars in his response to my comment. 5/5 for being a jerk.
Fair Play, You question is based on false and ignorant knowledge of how the real work works.
My 401K is up because of the optimism of the promise of tax reform that recently became reality. One only look back to the Obama Big Gov Big Regulation policies to see the difference that optimism makes in any economy.
We both agree you are ignorant how markets work, that is why you no doubt vote Democrat. This is by no means an insult but a descriptor.
I understand the quandary of the Progressives. Not one of their leaders voted for the Tax Incentives so there is a distinct incentive to deny the truth, to remain ignorant of the realities because the alternative is too hard to face.
The markets positive response to Trumps policies are good news for all of us.
It is your choice not to celebrate your windfall.
If you really are a true believer in The State, I would expect you to donate any “Ill Gotten Crumbs” to the US treasury or a local pension fund. A true believer expects that the State can spend money better than an individual.
It ain’t up 42% fog. You are either exaggerating or doing some bad math.
I must be the 401K Village Idiot. Since Obama skulked off to plan his library shrine to himself, I’m only up 24%.
@Froggy – My 401k adjusts to the market and relies on dividends and financial reports to make educable decisions on what sectors to invest in. It does not rely on wishes, optimism and, oddly enough, performed BETTER during the Obama years than during Bush’s presidency.
And you are right, the market’s response to Trump’s policies are great news. But Froggy the 42%er, which you will henceforth be known as, did not get a 42% ROI on his 401k after the Trump Tax Plan. Or you did and you should get out of that Ponzi scheme because that is utter BS.
I asked, “Your 401K is up 42% since the tax bill passing?” You say that is false and ignorant knowledge of how the real world works? You are deluded and a liar saying your 401k is up FORTY TWO PERCENT since the tax bill passing.
Period.
Fair play. I did not state My 401k is not up since the passing of the tax bill. I did state that your question was false. It is false because it ignores why 401ks and stock markets are up.
The question speaks more to your ideology and ignorance of how economies work.
I get that you were trying to make a political point and take away from the obvious sucess of policies opposite of what the progressive left have been selling and implementing.
I stated it is up since Trump was elected.
If you are in high risk, pro growth mutual funds, your 401ks are WAAAAAY up.
If you have a mix of guaranteed or low risk your are still in the 20%+ growth category.
Like all markets there will be a correction, not if, just when. How big? Depends on optimism of the markets. Meanwhile employment participation is growing, unemployment for all categories is down nationwide. The next step is wage growth once all the folks who gave up the last 8 years decide a paycheck is better than a handout.
The Dems need to get on the side of Americans and stop rooting against policy works regardless of party or politician.
So, just so we are clear, your 401k went up 42% and it wasn’t resultant from the Trump tax credit. Was it resultant from optimism from Trump winning office last November? Or was the 42% from when Trump won the GOP nomination? Or was it from optimism from Trump declaring his candidacy in 2015? Or was it from when he initially said he would run in 2012? I’m just curious because if it is the last four, that was during Obama’s Presidency, right?
Shelve your Fox News ship talk and just answer the question, what was the timeline your 401k went up 42%? It’s a simple question.
Ah yeah. We got a guy here, Fair, who describes himself as a liberal shill. Fair should look at Dow Jones and S&P averages since the day after Trump was elected. The averages were mostly going sideways during the presidential campaign. Immediately after Trump was elected, the stock market took off because Americans, investors, realized that the smart and shrewd businessman Trump would be good for the US, and world, economy. Fifteen months later, the economy, consumer confidence, everything about business and jobs is positive because of Trump. The criminal Hillary, just as her onetime boss Obama, knew NOTHING about business.
Might add that the incompetent last president famously said about successful business owners and leaders that they really were not responsible for the success of their business but that SOMEBODY ELSE made that happen. That last guy had zero, a nothing understanding about business.
Bred – You wouldn’t know an iota about building anything.
Did you check out the Dow and S&P ahead of the SotU? Both down. Yeah, markets love Trump.
At 10:51, Jan 30, Fair Play stated:
“Before you attack me because I am a liberal shill, please thoughtfully consider the following questions”
I believe your self description.
Bred- how bout that Trump amnesty. Still MAGA? Still haven’t responded
Fair Play? There is NO amnesty. The program will allow TWELVE years to work through their citizenship. It is NOT optional. It is required to become productive as an American. (This does not apply to other felonies.)
Agree. No amnesty offered by Trump. He said the DACA people would have to work hard and prove themselves over 10-12 years to get citizenship.
Trump has easily outsmarted the top Democrats Schumer and Pelosi. They only wanted to legalize those registered in the DACA program. But, Trump went beyond that and offered those eligible but not registered also a path to legalization and a path to citizenship.
The Democrat Party has had huge, huge losses over the last 6 years of President Obama’s time in the Oval Office. Loss of the House, Senate, Presidency, Governors, Legislative seats in numerous States. They are clearly stumbling, flailing about. The face of the Democrat Party is anger about losing the presidency to Trump. They can’t get over it. They refuse to recognize and admit that they were responsible for supporting an inferior candidate, Hillary. They have nothing relevant to offer Americans. Unless they clean house of dinosaurs in age and thinking such a Pelosi, Schumer and Sanders, they are headed towards extinction.
You know you are wrong when even Breitbart disagrees with you!!! hahahahahahahha God, your brain must look like a pretzel trying to twist and rationalize anti-immigration, Mr. Make Mexico Pay, pro-border wall, anti-amnesty Trump.
“As Breitbart News reported, a draft of the White House’s expansive amnesty plan obtained by Breitbart News reveals that the Trump administration would be expanding Obama’s federal, temporary amnesty—known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program—to six times the number of illegal aliens who are enrolled in the DACA.”
http://www.breitbart.com/live/state-union-fact-check-analysis-livewire/fact-check-no-trumps-amnesty-not-limited-1-8m-illegal-aliens/
And, for the record, I think it’s a great plan. I hope it passes because these people deserve to stay in the only country they know as their home. I’m simply calling out the hypocrisy of BRED and Cindy.
You are an idiot, Fair. I would trust the words from the horse’s mouth WAY long before I would trust the lying Breitbart. Why don’t you fact check with Trump what he said? (Apparently Fair is so stupid he doesn’t understand the meaning of the word hypocrisy. There was none anywhere here. A hypocrite is one that does what they accuse others of doing.) Being wrong is not being a hypocrite, you moron! In any event, neither bred nor I stated anything wrong. Now, what are you going to complain about?
Cindy,
Fine, let’s go to Trump’s mouth on his amnesty plan that both you and bred said isn’t amnesty!
“President Trump said this weekend that he offered a “wonderful deal” to protect illegal immigrant Dreamers and that resistance among Democrats suggests the party would rather have a political issue than a solution.”
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jan/28/donald-trump-democrats-obstruct-dreamers-amnesty-p/
OR, how about: “Among the most ardent contingent of the nativist far-right, Donald Trump’s mostly anodyne State of the Union address Tuesday night seemed to provoke an acute case of whiplash, as the president careened from sweeping appeals to bipartisanship to racial dog whistles, from strident anti-immigration diatribes to calls for amnesty, and back again.”
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/01/state-of-the-union-far-right-response-to-trump-amnesty-proposal
OR the conservative national review: “TRUMP RIGHT ABOUT DREAMER AMNESTY!”
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/455873/trump-right-about-dreamer-amnesty
OR: “From a candidate who promised to “immediately terminate President Obama’s two illegal executive amnesties,” the proposal represents a sharp turn that provides amnesty to nearly two million people.”
http://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/371279-four-red-flags-for-conservatives-in-trumps-amnesty-compromise
The Democrat Party along with their handmaidens of the mostly left wing media, the Hollywood clan and staunch Democrat voters were snookered by Trump in the election.
Trump again snookered Schumer and Pelosi on the DACA issue after dumbo Durbin tried to blow up negotiations.
Democrats are crybabies, poor losers. They refuse to acknowledge that they had a lousy candidate in Hillary and they lost to a shrewd business person. Their only strategy consists of constantly being angry, throwing out the “racist” word, and alleging collusion. They have nothing of value to offer American citizens/voters.
The real racists just might be within the Democrat Party as evidenced by racist statements in the past by Joe Biden and recently by Pelosi. She recently said about some persons in Congress working on DACA that they were 5 white guys. She said: “The five white guys I call them, you know, are they going to open a hamburger stand next or what?” Democrat US Rep Stenny Hoyer is one of those guys and quickly criticized her for her statement.
She also recently said about Trump’s DACA overall plan that he wants “to make America white again”. Joe Manchin criticized her for that on national tv.
The Democrat Party badly needs some people at the top who are rational and reasonable. Too bad that Party apparently ONLY has one person with these characteristics, Joe Manchin.
It is not amnesty. Here is Trump’s proposal for DACA and DACA-eligible people from the White House web site:
DACA LEGALIZATION: Provide legal status for DACA recipients and other DACA-eligible illegal immigrants, adjusting the time-frame to encompass a total population of approximately 1.8 million individuals.
10-12 year path to citizenship, with requirements for work, education and good moral character.
Clear eligibility requirements to mitigate fraud.
Status is subject to revocation for criminal conduct or public safety and national security concerns, public charge, fraud, etc.
Breitbart, the National Review, Fox, The Blaze ALL of them have had an article or post in the last 48 hours calling it amnesty!
Again I think it’s great! Me, Mr. Liberal, LOVE this pro-immigrant, pro-DACA, pro-dreamer legislation and it baffles me that you, bred, are twisting your teeny brain to rationalize that Trump is for amnesty when you have said some of the most anti immigrant, anti DACA, anti dreamer things on this blog, then flip sides!!!! It’s comically hilarious
Just shows you how much they lie, Fair Play. Are you not getting the message yet? TUrnoff the teevee! It is rotting your brain! BTW Trump is NOT anti immigrant. He is anti ILLEGAL alien! Learn to use the native tongue. It is a rich and diverse language.
Powers that be in the mostly left wing media have instructed their editors, reporters, news writers, news readers and so-called journalists to abandon the terms “illegal alien” and “illegal immigrant” and replace it with simply “immigrant” when reporting on or writing about matters concerning illegal aliens and illegal immigrants.
Informed citizens have known for a very, very long time that the mostly left wing media are the stooges and handmaidens of liberals, far left wing extremists and mainly the Democrat Party. The media serves their master, the Democrat Party, by reporting any and all issues involving illegal aliens and illegal immigrants as merely “immigrants”.
They, the media, have decided to be judge and jury and equate illegal immigrants, who violated U.S. Federal Law, with those immigrants who followed the Law and procedures and came to the U.S. legally. With this, as well as many other ways of the the left wing media, they have proven that they cannot and should not be trusted. Their methods are insidious and they seek to brainwash the uninformed and gullible masses.