Sheila Jackson Lee: “This tax bill is not about the future. It is about our past. Millions of Americans, middle class families, will have…”

“This tax bill is not about the future. It is about our past. Millions of Americans, middle class families, will have increased taxes under this tax scam. In fact, in the State of Texas, 230,000-plus Texans will pay an average of over $6,000 more in taxes. That is a tax scam. In addition, Mr. Speaker, this is not a futuristic tax bill. This is not a tax bill for our times. This is a tax bill that implodes higher education. For instance, it does not allow the deduction of student loans or interest payments on those loans or tuition or expenses, eliminating the opportunity for educational growth. It eliminates the tax credit for research and innovation; again, stymieing the growth of the United States as it relates to research and innovation. Then to the large universities, the endowments that are used to help our students to build complexes to educate the best and the brightest are eliminated. This is a tax scam. It is a tax scam on higher education. It is a tax scam on hardworking middle class Americans. It deserves a resounding ``no'' vote because we don't want to go back. We want to go toward the future. ____________________”