Senate Proceeding on Oct 29th, 2009 :: 0:23:55 to 0:39:40
Total video length: 6 hours 41 minutes Stream Tools: Stream Overview | Edit Time

Note: MetaVid video transcripts may contain inaccuracies, help us build a more perfect archive

Views:14 Duration: 0:15:45 Discussion

Previous speech:

Next speech:

0:23:52 to 0:24:14( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: the majority controlling the second the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i'm going to continue on senator from kentucky made, and that is tax increases. iant to be a little more

0:23:55 to 0:39:40( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Chuck Grassley

0:24:15 to 0:24:36( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: specific about how a health care reform bill is going to very dramatically increase taxes, particularly for groups of people under $250,000 a year income, which president obama has promised would never have their taxes inc on september 12, 2008, in dover,

0:24:37 to 0:24:59( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: new hampshire, candidate obama said -- quote -- "and i can make a firm pledge, no family making less their taxes not your income payroll taxes, not your capital gains taxes, not any of taxes."

0:25:00 to 0:25:21( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: you can see on the chart quotation. well, i believe that we're on the point of promise. president obama's pledge has also been repeated by the president numerous of times since that

0:25:22 to 0:25:42( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: candidate obama has been in office. however, the health care reform bill reported out of the senate finance committee is loaded with tax hikes, -- "the middle class."

0:25:43 to 0:26:06( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: candidate obama stated that -- quote -- "if you're making less than $250,000, then you are definitely somewhere in the middle class." president obama'sudget tracks this definition by preserving the current income rate structure for families under

0:26:07 to 0:26:30( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: $250,000 and singles $200,000. and the democratic leadership's budget adopted president obama's definition of the middle class. so, president obama and congressional democrats have adopted this definition of middle class in the context of health care reform.

0:26:31 to 0:26:51( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: as evidenced on august 3, 2009, president obama's press secretary robert gibbs said -- quote -- "let me be precise,he president's clear commitment is not to raise taxes on those making less than $250,000 a year." end quote. in his portsmouth, new

0:26:52 to 0:27:14( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: hampshire, town hall, the president said, referring to ways in which to pay\@\@ for health care reform -- quote -- "it should not burden people who make less than -- who make $250,000 a year or less." end quote. congressional democratic

0:27:15 to 0:27:36( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: leadership have made similar commitments. so the question is, when health care reform comes up, will it not increase taxes for people under will the promises that the president has made as a

0:27:37 to 0:27:57( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: candidate be kept by bills that may become law? now, i don't want to refer to this senator's judgment of this. i want to u the words of the joint committee on taxation and these are people who are experts, nonpartisan.

0:27:58 to 0:28:18( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: nobody questions their judgment, they're intellectually honest. they're not republicans or demo and according to these official scorekeepers, joint tax, congressional budget office, the finance committee bill contains over $500 billion of tax creases, fees and penalties on

0:28:19 to 0:28:39( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: individuals and businesses. the joint committee on taxation has testified that a significant percentage of these tax increases, fees, and penalties will be borne by the middle-class taxpayers, those making under $250,000.

0:28:40 to 0:29:00( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: joint tax has also performed a distribution analysis of three tax provisions of finance committee bill through the years when these three provisions are fully in effect -- in other words, the joint tax and congress looks ahead ten years. so we're talking about between

0:29:01 to 0:29:21( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: now and 2019. the three tax made distributional analysis of are the advanced refundable, insurance premium tax credit. two, the also known around here as cadillac health insurance plans

0:29:22 to 0:29:43( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: and the taxes connected -- and that is the tax connected with it. and then, thirdly, the expense deduction tax increase. the joint committee on taxation fo singles making over $40,000 and married couples

0:29:44 to 0:30:07( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: $75,000 a year would have a net tax increase under the finance bill. again, if you're single and making over married making over $75,000 a year, your taxes are going up on average under the finance committee bill, and we have two charts up here that make that

0:30:08 to 0:30:30( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: very clear. now, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle may say that the finance committee lowers people's taxes, so let's look at that. now this may be a little bit true for some taxpayers, but middle-class taxpayers, their taxes will go up.

0:30:31 to 0:30:52( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: and further, if the president signs the senate finance committee bill or some of the financing measures in that bill into the president would break that campaign pledge. the president then would be raising taxes on families making

0:30:53 to 0:31:15( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: $250,000 and singles making $200,000. now that we have established that the finance committee bill raises taxes i'd like to dig just a bit deeper. in looking up to 2019, joint tax

0:31:16 to 0:31:36( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: data leads to the conclusion that 77% of the burden of the tax increases in the finance bill would be borne by middle-class taxpayers. so, in 2019 out of these taxpayers making under $200,000 that are affected by the three

0:31:37 to 0:31:57( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: provisions mentioned above, 54% of them will see tax increases. in other words, 46 million middle-class families and individuals would pay higher taxes under the finance committee bill, contrary to what the president has said.

0:31:58 to 0:32:18( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: joint tax data also finds that middle-class families who file joint retur a very dramatically affected. specifically, in 2019, over 64% of middle-class families filing joint tax returns would face a

0:32:19 to 0:32:40( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: significant increase, and these families, obviously, make less than $250,000 a year, and once again we have charts that will show you the different divisions of people falling into those income categories. another way to look at this, there are four groups of middle-class taxpayers that are

0:32:41 to 0:33:01( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: treated differently under the finance cmittee bill. the first is a group million that will receive refundable tax credits. these refundable credits really represent government spending and not tax relief and that's the judgment of these official

0:33:02 to 0:33:24( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: scorekeepers, not this senator. in 2019, this government spending amounts to $77 billion alone. in the second group, some of the 25 million will see some tax relief. however, a substantial number of those 25 million in this second

0:33:25 to 0:33:45( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: group will not see any tax relief under the bill. the third group made up of 46 million middle-income taxpayers will bear a large tax increase, and a fourth group of 83 billion will have a provisions in the bill that

0:33:46 to 0:34:06( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: joint tax has not yet analyzed, so i can't go into depth about that group. for example, joint tax has not yet provided distribution analysis on the effect of the fees on health insurers that'll be passed through and medical device the presiding officer: the senator's time has expired. mr. grassley: i'd like five additional minutes. the presiding officer: without

0:34:07 to 0:34:28( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: objection. mr. grassley: because we don't have that analysis, we don't know how many of those 83 million will face tax increases. for instance, many of those million buy health insurance themselves or their employers buy it for bear the burden of the insurance fees in the form of higher insurance premiums.

0:34:29 to 0:34:50( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: now, during the finance committee debate, some senators of the majority party described the finance committee bill as providing a net tax cut. now, let's look at what is a tax cut, because the official scorers would not determine that that's what it is.

0:34:51 to 0:35:11( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: to understand what these clas -- whether these claims are accurate, you have to figure out what is meant by the words "tex"taxreduction." the premium tax credit under the bill is refundable. that means tax return filers receive the tax credit even if

0:35:12 to 0:35:35( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: they have liability. if they have no income tax liability, how can their taxes go joint tax doesn't describe that as a tax reduction. instead, joint tax says, these filers receive a federal benefit. joint tax also tells us that 73%

0:35:36 to 0:35:58( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: of the $45billion for refundable tax credits for health insurance is, in fact, pure and simple, government spending. that leaves just 27% or $122 billion that might legitimately be called a tax reduction, and you see it here on the chart we

0:35:59 to 0:36:19( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: have. meanwhile, as mentioned above, there are over $500 billion in tax increases, a half a trillion -- another way of saying it. evening if we add in the meager small business tax credit of $23

0:36:20 to 0:36:41( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: billion, which is the only other tax benefit in the bill, this bill contains a net tax increas of over $350 billion. because the refundable insurance premium credit is called a tax credit, democrats have argued that the entire $453 billion is a tax credit.

0:36:42 to 0:37:03( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: however, joint tax and the congressional budget office scores $330 billion of that $453 billion as, pure as simple, government spending. colleagues on the other side of of t aisle argue that such government spending is actually a tax c however, joint tax scores this

0:37:04 to 0:37:25( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: as government spending, not tax cuts. an outlay results when the tax credit is larger tn an individual income tax liability, if any. that individual simply receives a check from the internal revenue service. sending a check to an individual that pays no income tax cannot

0:37:47 to 0:38:08( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: also receive social security and medicare benefits, that rationale can't b over and over again t should only be we're already -- we already have a number of generous refundable tax credits. the child tax credit, the earned-income tax credit and the

0:38:09 to 0:38:30( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: making-work-pay credit are all presently refundable tax credits. now, the insurance premium credit in the finance birl is -- to in the finance bill list. this same rationale has been used four times to clail in this government spending is actually

0:38:31 to 0:38:53( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: a tax cut. joint tax scores these outlays as government spending, not as a tax cut. it. it is the professionals in joint tax that say it is government spending, not a tax cut. now, the interesting thing about the refundable tax credit for

0:38:54 to 0:39:15( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: health insurance not go to family. one more minute? instead, this federal tax benefit goes from directly to the insurance company providing health care coverage. that's a check from the federal government made out to your

0:39:16 to 0:39:38( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: surance company, dated, signed, sealed, and directly to that insurance company. so i rember hearing president obama criticize spending money directly to insurance companies because on october 4 before his election in newport news,

0:39:39 to 0:39:43( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: virginia, then-candidate obama