{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://zeldin.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/amendment-protect-small-businesses-salt-legislation-rejected-house-dems", "Amendment to Protect Small Businesses in SALT Legislation Rejected by House Dems", "2019-12-18", "2019", "2019-12", "Republican", "House", "NY", "Lee Zeldin", "Z000017", "zeldin.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON - Today, Congressman Lee Zeldin (R, NY-1) issued the following statement after House Democrats rejected consideration of his amendment with Congressman Jodey Arrington (R, TX-19) to ensure small businesses would not be subject to a tax increase under H.R. 5377, barring the amendment from even being considered on the House floor.\nAs H.R. 5377 is currently written, it would change the State and Local Tax deduction temporarily until 2021, permanently raising the 37% tax rate for individuals and small businesses to 39.6%, and expands that tax bracket to include married couples filing jointly more than $498,000, instead of the current $622,050, and singles filing more than $441,475, instead of the current $518,400. This expansion of the bracket means that many currently in the 35% tax bracket would now be subject to a 39.6% tax rate.\nOver 90% of U.S. businesses are pass-through businesses and pay taxes at the individual income tax rate rather than the corporate tax rate, and 99.78% of these businesses have less than 100 employees. Any of these businesses that fall into the now broader tax bracket will be subject to the tax increase.\nMy colleagues know I am eager to work with them to fix this legislation. However, it's clear with House Democratic leadership's flat out denial of this amendment to protect small businesses that they're not interested in fixing this legislation in good-faith, getting it through the Senate and signed into law, but that their true focus is providing themselves political cover, said Congressman Zeldin. 'I'm not focused on doing what's politically expedient, voting on another messaging bill that will never become law and which also happens to be a net tax increase. I'm focused on providing true tax relief for hard working Long Islanders. It's unfortunate that at the end of the day, when the dust has settled, they will continue to be the victims of out of state and out of touch Congressional leadership, putting politics over common sense, realistic solutions. The only SALT deduction legislation that will ever provide relief to Long Islanders is legislation that can be signed into law.\nThe Parity for Main Street Employers, which represents millions of individual and family-owned businesses, voiced their concerns regarding this bill following its introduction stating, Individually and family owned businesses organized as S corporations, partnerships and sole proprietorships are the heart of the American economy. They employ the majority of workers, and they contribute the most to our national income. They also pay the majority of business taxes. A recent study by EY found that pass-through businesses pay 51 percent of all business income taxes. The legislation introduced today would raise these taxes by 1) increasing the top rate passthrough businesses pay from the current 37 percent to 39.6 percent and 2) lowering the income threshold of the top rate from $622,050 to $496,600 (Joint) for the years 2020 through 2025, after which the 37 percent rate is scheduled to expire under current law.", 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://zeldin.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/amendment-protect-small-businesses-salt-legislation-rejected-house-dems"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3844789937138557, "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"}