Jon L. Christensen: “there is one issue that has been neglected in the debate over our tax bill: the issue of how this tax bill helps our…”

“there is one issue that has been neglected in the debate over our tax bill: the issue of how this tax bill helps our nation's seniors. Remember President Clinton's punitive tax hike on seniors? Remember when the Democrats decided that seniors living on fixed incomes as low as $34,000 were ``wealthy''? Well, our bill injects some sanity back into this debate by repealing the Clinton tax increase on seniors. It lets seniors keep more of their own money rather than forcing them to hand it over to the Federal Government to be squandered by spendthrift bureaucrats. Our tax bill also helps seniors by reforming the social security earnings limit. Under current law, seniors between the ages of 65 to 69 can only earn $11,280 before the government begins confiscating $1 for every $3 they earn. When you include the FICA withholding tax and the federal income tax, low-income seniors face an effective marginal tax rate of 55.65 percent! That is a tax rate traditionally left to millionaires. Unlike the Democrats, who once claimed that they wanted to see the earnings limit raised, we are doing what we said we would do by raising the earnings limit to $30,000. These provisions, plus our long term care incentives, $500 Eldercare Tax Credit and the increase in the estate and gift tax exclusion, show that it is the Republicans that are looking out for the best interests of our nation's seniors.”