Executive Calendar
Floor Speech
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Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, I want to join several of my colleagues today who are noting that we are approaching tax day. It is not a day Americans look forward to, but it is part of our responsibilities. The old joke about the two things that are certain--death and taxes--is still certain for all of us.
This year, it is interesting to approach this tax season in the first year of everyone filing under the new tax law. It has been fascinating to read some of the stories about what some of the media--the national media in particular--is saying about the tax law. They are so desperate to find anything to criticize. It is fascinating to me to read the headlines versus the stories.
The headline in this story in particular is ``This is going to wipe us out,'' in reference to the new tax law. When you read through the story and find out who they say is going to get wiped out, here is their illustration of the person: a person moving from a $400,000 house this past year to one valued at $1.1 million. He concedes he has a first-world problem of his taxes going up, but he says that owing more in taxes is ``a little disheartening''--as he moves from a $400,000 house to a $1.1 million home. I am excited for him and his new home. I am sure it is beautiful. But that was their illustration of who is going to get hard hit by the tax changes.
This article from a national source said: ``Is a Tax Refund Ahead in Your 2019? Some Taxpayers Received a Tax Bill Instead.'' You go to the middle of the story, and they make this one little note: ``Only about 5% of taxpayers . . . are expected to pay more under the new law.'' In other words, 95 percent of Americans--even in this story that is a negative story about the taxes, they hide the simple fact that 95 percent of Americans will pay the same or less. The vast majority of those will pay less in their taxes for the next year.
How about this one. Here is another national story that came out. ``Small business owners struggling to understand Trump's new tax law.'' When you get down to literally the last line of the story, it ends like this, with the same small business owner:
I don't know [yet] if it's going to impact my cash flow, the way I have to put money aside for this year, because I'm not sure. I may even do better [under the tax law], I don't know [yet].
That was their whole story to say that people are struggling under this tax law--it was just the uncertainty.
What am I finding in Oklahoma? I am finding more jobs and more opportunity across the State. This is not some accident of history; this is the direct result of a change in the tax law.
I am quite confident that my liberal colleagues have all been very excited to find something to complain about through this process, but they overlook the simple fact that this one story buries 95 percent of Americans who do the same or better under the tax law and that the vast majority of those are doing better under the tax law.
It was interesting. There was a Vox tweet that came out from a news source from one of the reporters who made this one comment this past week, saying: ``Nobody likes to give themselves credit for this kind of messaging success, but progressive groups did a really good job of convincing people that Trump raised their taxes when the facts say a clear majority got a tax cut.''
My favorite: The left-leaning Tax Policy Center had to begrudgingly study the tax cut and what is actually happening and say: Middle-class taxes actually went down. Families kept almost $1,000 more, which would have previously gone into government coffers.
What happened as a result of that, as a result of people keeping their own money and the withholding tables changing this past year so that each month, people are actually keeping more of their own money? Here is what happened: Our GDP grew at 3 percent a year--a dramatic increase from what we have had in the past; inflation-adjusted business investment has gone up 7 percent just since the tax cuts; and 215,000 new jobs have started on average every month since the tax cuts. Those are very strong numbers across the country. Unemployment has gone to 3.9 percent since the enactment of tax reform. Beginning in April of last year, the number of job openings in the national economy has exceeded the number of unemployed Americans--something that had not been recorded prior to April since records have been kept.
So starting this past year, there are literally more people searching to find other opportunities than there are opportunities out there because there are so many jobs open. So many companies are still trying to hire and are looking for people that people have the opportunity to stay at their same job, get better pay, or switch to a new job and get opportunities. That is providing more opportunities for more people to transition to a new job or make more money at their own job.
Well, what has happened on wages? As a result of what is happening in the economy, wages have gone up 2.9 percent just since the tax cut; that is, individual wages have gone up. What happened to income during that time period? Let me go back to the Obama time period. When President Obama was President, on average, income went up 1.8 percent; that is, total take-home. Since the tax reform, income has gone up 4 percent for each American. That is double the amount during the Obama administration. Again, this is not an accident of history; this is the result of the tax reform. This is what happens when people are allowed to keep more of their own money and spend it. More companies are doing better. There is more investment happening, more job opportunities, more opportunity to get a different job or to get a raise at your current job, and take-home pay has increased.
What has happened in people's taxes? Well, early on this year, the stories, as I referenced before, were all about how tax returns were down. They searched to find anyone who had tax returns that were down. All those stories disappeared in late February, when the IRS brought out the latest numbers, not from January and early February but from February and March, and said: Actually, tax returns are up this year from what they were in the previous year.
As of the latest number, April 5, tax returns for individuals almost are dead even, exactly as they were last year. So the stories have disappeared from headlines that their tax returns changed because the IRS continues to report the facts. Actually, the returns are almost exactly what they were from the previous time.
So what has happened to actually help people in their paying of their taxes? Well, I started asking some of my team in Oklahoma to just ask people. When you are traveling around the State and when you are visiting people, just ask them how their taxes have gone and what has happened because people are filing now--just find out what is going on.
One of the dry cleaners in Enid let our team know that he is doing better in his small business taxes this year, and he is actually going to be able to put a downpayment now on some brand new equipment at his dry cleaner in Enid.
With another one we talked to--he is in his early thirties, married, he and his wife both work. They said they saved enough on their taxes this year from last year that they are going to start paying off some of their student loans and start paying down their car loan faster.
We spoke to one other gentleman who is also in his late thirties. They have one child who was born this past year. They said they have saved enough in their taxes from the previous year that they are going to be able to take care of some healthcare costs they have, and they are going to start setting aside some money to allow his wife to start a Roth IRA account. Starting their savings for their retirement in their thirties, when you should start saving for your retirement, they are able do this year because of the change in the Tax Code.
With another gentleman we talked to who works in Oklahoma City, he reported that with his withholding changes that happened, he is now actually in a--he was in a 25-percent tax bracket and has now moved to the 22-percent tax bracket, and he is using his savings to take care of some of the issues he had in his own personal debt.
We have a married couple in Davis, OK, down in South-Central Oklahoma. Their income actually went up $4,000 this last year. When they finished all their tax payments, their tax actually decreased by $700 from one year to the next, even though their income went up.
Another couple down the street from Davis in Sulphur, OK, own a small farm. Their income went up $7,000 last year from the previous year, and they were panicked about what would happen with their taxes. Well, their taxes actually decreased $1,400 from the year before.
We have a police officer in Norman, OK, just south of Oklahoma City. He actually--he and his family, after they finished filing all their taxes, he said this:
I now bring home more in my check every 2 weeks because of the change in the Tax Code. It is making things so much simpler for us to be able to make ends meet.
There was a teacher in an elementary school. She noted, as simple as this may sound, that she has received $10 more every single time a paycheck came out, and that made a difference for her as a first-year teacher just getting started.
There is a farmer with two kids. He was able to use the new child tax credits, and although his income was higher than the year before, his tax burden was $3,000.
There is a pilot married to a nurse in our State. Their income actually increased in the past year as well, but he said with the lower tax rates and the child tax credits, their tax burden also decreased by $1,000 from the year before.
All these are real-life stories of what is really going on in the State. As I hear all the different stories that come out, people lose track of the fact of what is really happening. While some of my colleagues have been so focused on trying to find some way to be able to damage the effect of tax cuts, families in my State know the difference.
One of the families we encountered this past week made a comment that they had a child born in 2018. That child was born in 2018 but actually very premature. Their medical bills racked up pretty quickly because the child was in the ICU. Then they started filing their taxes this year as their medical bills were coming in--by the way, their child is doing well and healthy. As they started filling out all their forms and were thinking about some of their bills, being able to cover their deductible, their tax bill came back in, and they saw their taxes are lower, and they are using their higher return this year to offset the medical costs from the early delivery of their child.
This is what tax reform looks like. Some of my colleagues try to spend all of their time saying tax reform is all about big corporations and Wall Street. Interestingly enough, most of the high-income folks in my State have said, actually, their taxes went up a little bit this year, not down. They are part of that 5 percent of Americans who didn't end up with a tax change. For the vast majority of Americans who are working and putting ends together and taking care of their family, in my State and in other States, they are finding that tax reform is not some theory to them. It was a real help to their family in paying off debt, starting retirement, taking care of medical costs, taking care of their family, getting going on with life, and as the police officer in Norman said, ``just making things a little simpler.''
Tax reform is determined to help our economy, to get us growing, to get us going as a nation and provide more opportunities, and I am grateful, even in all the complexity of filling out tax forms, it is showing a real result in pragmatic ways to Americans.
This past weekend, I stopped and filled out my tax information--going through all the details and gathering all the forms and filling everything out. It is still a pain, and it is still not the most pleasant experience in all of life filling out your tax forms, but at the end of it, I reflected on some of these direct stories and realized there are people who really do feel the real effects of what is going on. Understanding all the frustration of filling out taxes, which is a pain for everybody, there is some real benefit this year versus the year before and I hope for the years to come.
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