Issue Position: Tax Reform

Issue Position

Senator Reed has voted to reduce the tax burden on all Americans and end tax loopholes that let corporations hide profits overseas.

Senator Reed has a long record of supporting broad-based tax cuts for middle class families and small businesses. He voted to give 95 percent of working families a tax break and supports policies to ensure a financially healthy middle-class.

Reed also helped extend the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit to help families make ends meet.

Senator Reed opposed the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and corporate welfare for big oil companies, as well as other special interests giveaways that led to record deficits. He continues the fight to simplify and reform our tax code and eliminate loopholes that allow large corporations to avoid paying their fair share.

Key Priorities & Accomplishments

Reed helped pass the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 to provide tax relief for middle-class families and encourage businesses to invest and hire through payroll tax cuts.
Reed helped pass the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC), which provides middle-class families with $1 back on their taxes for every $1 spent on undergraduate college education expenses for the first $2,000 and 25% of the next $2,000 for a total of up to $2,500 in tax savings per year.
Reed voted to provide small businesses with $12 billion in tax cuts to create new private-sector jobs and allow for 100% exclusion of capital gains on investments in small business.
Reed supported the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act, which provided Rhode Island businesses that hired unemployed workers in 2010 a tax credit--up to $6,000 per worker hired--through an exemption from Social Security payroll taxes. Businesses that retained these new workers for at least one year were eligible for a $1,000 income tax credit per worker retained.

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