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Floor Speech

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Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, with tax filing season underway, the American people are beginning to feel the impact of the working families tax cuts. They are seeing smaller tax bills, bigger refunds, and more money in their pockets. And perhaps one of the biggest boosts from this law is for the hard-working Americans who will now be able to deduct tips and overtime pay from their taxes.

That is right. Thanks to the working families tax cuts millions of Americans who earn tips and work overtime will see tax relief on that income and save hundreds of dollars on their taxes. Six million Americans claimed tips on their taxes last year, and it is fair to say that for many of these hard-working people, no tax on tips is a game changer.

Tyler, who is a waiter in Nevada, said:

It will be nice to be able, instead of saving for taxes, to be saving for our future.

And he is not alone. Cora, who works at a restaurant in Iowa, echoed that. She said:

In the service industry, too, you're always constantly worried about what that end of the year number is going to be . . . now with this we . . . have some relief with that too.

We are not talking about an inconsequential sum of money. A waitress in California said she owed $900 in taxes last year.

And Americans who earn tips already have plans where to put their tax savings. Some are planning to put it into their education and savings, toward groceries and rent, or as one mother in Michigan said, toward raising her four kids.

Because of the working families tax cuts, when someone puts their tips in their pocket at the end of their shift, their money stays in their pocket.

Republicans' landmark tax relief bill also created the new deduction for overtime pay. Overtime is a significant part of a lot of Americans' incomes: police officers, firefighters, paramedics, nurses, manufacturing workers, and tradespeople. But up until now, the impact of those extra hours and extra wages was muted by taxes--no longer. Now these hard-working Americans will be able to keep more of the money they earn when they spend extra hours away from their loved one, often doing very challenging jobs.

This is especially true for nurses and other healthcare workers for whom overtime is a routine part of their week. One nurse in California said:

Nurses are now asking for overtime, thanks to the no tax on overtime provision.

Whether it is more money for a vacation, for education, or for just paying for day-to-day expenses, the working family tax cuts is a game changer for a lot of Americans. And no tax on tips and overtime is on top of permanently lower tax rates, a higher standard deduction, a $2,000 tax credit, and so much more. It all adds up to hard-working Americans keeping more of their hard-earned money to spend, invest, and save how they see fit.

Despite all that the working families tax cuts does for middle-income Americans, Democrats are once again peddling the lie that this bill is about tax breaks for billionaires. That obviously is very far from the truth. I have talked about some of the people who are benefiting from this bill today. Not a single one of them is a billionaire. They are not millionaires either. In fact, a lot of the people who are benefitting from the working families tax cuts live paycheck to paycheck. They work every day to have enough money to pay the bills, support their families, and maybe put something away for the future.

That is who Republicans had in mind when we wrote this bill, and that is who is benefiting.

Democrats can say what they want, but the American people are seeing the benefits from this bill with their own eyes.

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