{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.lee.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=2f4f7c4d-dc0e-4740-afe3-d368831e94ab", "Lee Introduces Family Fairness Tax Reform Plan", "2013-10-30", "2013", "2013-10", "Republican", "House", "UT", "Mike Lee", "L000577", "www.lee.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Today Senator Mike Lee introduced a tax reform plan that would replace much of today\u2019s complex tax system with a new, simple structure that provides solutions for America\u2019s ongoing opportunity crisis and ends the discrimination of parents in the tax code.\u00a0 The Family Fairness and Opportunity Tax Reform Act is a pro-family, pro-growth plan that incentivizes social mobility, promotes middle-class economic security, and improves opportunity for all Americans.\r\n\u201cIf there is any single group of people in the entire country whose equal opportunity to pursue happiness we should make sure to protect, it is our ultimate entrepreneurial and investor class: America\u2019s moms and dads,\u201d said Sen. Lee. \u201cThe family has emerged as perhaps the most important institution in our economy.\u00a0 It is an incubator of economic opportunity, an indicator of economic success, and grows more economically important every day.\u201d\r\n\u201cThe current tax code singles out parents of young children for unfair and extremely expensive discrimination. It is what I call the \u2018parent tax penalty,\u2019 a glitch in the federal tax code that forces parents to contribute to senior entitlement programs not once, but twice. \u00a0My plan levels the playing field to treat all taxpayers more equally. For a middle-class family, this is an immediate, potentially life-changing reform.\u201d\r\nUnder this plan, a married couple with two children making the median national income of $51,000 would see a tax cut of approximately $5,000 per year.\r\n\u201cIn short, the Family Fairness and Opportunity Tax Reform Act would restore opportunities to working parents and their children to pursue happiness that right now federal policy unfairly denies them,\u201d Lee added.\r\n\u00a0\r\nPraise for Senator Lee\u2019s Tax Reform Proposal\r\nFormer Florida Governor Jeb Bush:\u201cSenator Mike Lee and others here are proposing incredibly sound policies to provide incentives for child rearing families to give them the kind of support that they need through our tax code.\u201d\r\nNational Review Editorial Board: \u201cSenator Mike Lee, the Utah conservative, announced an ambitious plan to reform taxes \u2014 much the most attractive one we have heard from any Republican for a long time.\u201d\r\nReihan Salam: \u201c[The Family Fairness and Opportunity Tax Reform Act] represents genuinely new thinking about how Republicans ought to approach domestic policy\u2026 [I]t will represent a substantial tax cut for middle-income families with children\u201d.\r\nJosh Barro: \u201cLee is out with a new tax plan that's much better and actually addresses the needs of the middle class.\u201d\r\nRamesh Ponnuru: \u201cRepublican economic rhetoric has tended to overemphasize commercial individualism\u2026That critique has some force. But it has less force now that Lee, who is clearly a conservative, is shifting his party's priorities on taxes toward the middle class.\u201d\r\n \r\nEncouraged by @SenMikeLee's policy entrepreneurship to promote upward mobility and economic security: http://t.co/qjnbeYiwlE\r\n\u2014 Paul Ryan (@PRyan) October 29, 2013 \r\n\r\nMore Information:\r\nHow it Works\r\n \r\nEstablishes two individual income tax rates: 15% on all income up to $87,850 \u2013 and twice that amount for married couples - and 35% on all income above that;\r\nOffsets the parent tax penalty by providing an additional $2,500-per child tax credit, available to\u00a0all parents of dependent children and applicable to payroll taxes as well as income taxes;\r\nA $2,000 personal credit to offset the removal of the 10% bracket and the personal exemption;\r\nA new charitable deduction that would be available to all taxpayers, not just current itemizers;\r\nA new mortgage interest deduction, also available to all home-owners, but capped at $300,000 worth of principal;\r\nEliminates special interest loopholes\r\nRepeals Obamacare taxes and the AMT\r\nEliminates the state and local deduction\r\nRevenue expected to be 16-20% of GDP\r\n\u00a0\r\n \r\nWhat it Does\r\n \r\nSimplifies the tax code and lowers the top marginal rate\r\nEliminates an unfair and dysfunctional double standard\r\nVastly improves the economic security of middle-class Americans\r\nEqualizes a system that is rigged in favor of the wealthy and well-connected\r\nProvides substantial tax relief for most Americans\r\nCreates pro-growth incentives to encourage new jobs and investment\r\nFocuses deductions on the families and communities who need it most\r\nResponds to the inequality crisis facing the country today\r\nConsistent with conservative reform principles", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.lee.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=2f4f7c4d-dc0e-4740-afe3-d368831e94ab"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7948190215975046, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}