On the recordNovember 15, 2017
our economy has been stuck between 1.4- and 1.9-percent growth over the last 10 years. Compare that to the 10- year cycles before that, over and over again, all the way back to the Great Depression. Every group in a 10-year block was at 3 percent or more growth. Literally, we have had half the growth in our economy over the last 10 years than we have had in any 10-year time period, going all the way back to the Great Depression. We have to be able to deal with that. I hear people over and over again say that regulations are choking our businesses and are driving up the cost of products for consumers. Yet our Tax Code is full of loopholes, and it is full of confusion. It is complicated. When I go through to fill out my individual taxes, it seems as though there are deductions for everybody else but for me, and people want to get that fixed. Quite frankly, no one likes paying taxes, and everyone wants to make sure that whatever taxes they pay are spent efficiently and are the lowest possible. I cannot tell them that right now because the spending is not on track and is not efficient. I also cannot tell them that they are as low as possible. We need to fix that. The tax reform that we are discussing in the Senate right now deals with some very basic things. It begins with more take-home pay for individuals. You can either be paid more by an employer or you can be taxed less by the government. Either one of those increases the take- home pay.…





