Rep. Sykes Introduces Lower Your Taxes Act To Put More Money In The Pockets Of Working People In Ohio’s 13th Congressional District
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Representative Emilia Sykes (OH-13) introduced the Lower Your Taxes Act to lower costs for Ohio workers and families and grow the middle class by expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC), and to pay for those expansions by making wealthy corporations pay their fair share in taxes.
“When I ran for Congress, I promised to fight for lower costs and to expand opportunity. The Lower Your Taxes Act does exactly that,” said Rep. Sykes. “By expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit, we’re investing in working people and putting more of your hard-earned money back into your pocket at a time when families need it the most. Wealthy corporations making record profits should not pay less in taxes than the hardworking people and families in our communities — it’s time we put the needs of the American people first to grow the middle class.”
The Lower Your Taxes Act would improve the EITC and the CTC by:
- Expanding the EITC by doubling the credit percentage for families with children and increasing the credit five-fold for those without children;
- Removing the EITC age cap and allow individuals to begin taking the credit at 18 years of age instead of 25 years of age and eliminates the age cap of 65 years of age;
- Linking the earned income amount and the phaseout amount to inflation to ensure recipients receive the most generous benefit possible;
- Increasing the EITC phaseout percentage, the earned income amount, and the phaseout amount, all of which increase the amount of money put back in the pockets of qualifying families;
- Eliminating any marriage penalties for married couples filing jointly versus marries couples filing individually;
- Requiring that the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service provide notification to filers who do not take the EITC to make them aware that they could receive a more substantial tax refund had they taken that credit; and
- Reinstating the American Rescue Plan Act Child Tax Credit expansion where payments to families with a child under six would rise to $350/month and payments for a child over six would rise to $300/month.
The Lower Your Taxes Act would also ensure wealthy corporations pay their fair share in taxes by:
- Cracking down on corporate greed by modifying the corporate alternative minimum tax to create a 25% tax bracket for corporate profits over the amount of $5 billion;
- Returning the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21%, eliminating the Trump Tax Plan that prioritized tax breaks for large corporations at the expense of working people;
- Increasing the excise tax rate for corporate stock buybacks to 4% from 1%; and
- Treating the capital gains of individuals with over $1 million in personal income as taxable income, as opposed to capital gains.
Full bill text can be found here.