Congressman Fred Upton is proud to represent the common-sense values of Southwest Michigan’s Sixth Congressional District. A diverse section of the state that stretches from the shores of Lake Michigan, the Sixth District is home to key industries that range from agriculture to auto parts manufacturing to high-tech biomedical innovation centers. It includes all of Berrien, Cass, Kalamazoo, St. Joseph and Van Buren counties, and most of Allegan County.
Prior to his election to Congress, Fred worked for President Ronald Reagan in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). While at OMB, he learned from President Reagan’s example that it does not matter who gets the credit, as long as the job gets done. That has been Fred’s approach since he was first elected to Congress in 1986 and continues today.
American families and businesses are simply taxed too much. To protect jobs and encourage growth, we must keep our tax rates low as well as reform our overly complex tax code.
Enacting Pro-Growth Tax Reform
Plain and simple: our old tax system was broken. It was a complicated mess that imposes burdensome paperwork on Michigan families and small businesses, rewards some while punishing others, and forces businesses to move overseas. I long supported comprehensive tax reform to create a system that is simple, efficient, and fair to all taxpayers.
I supported wholeheartedly the pro-growth Tax Cuts & Jobs Act that was signed into law by President Trump at the end of 2017.
Repealing the Medical Device Tax
From the start, I was a vocal opponent of the Medical Device Tax – the Affordable Care Act’s 2.3 percent excise tax on U.S. medical device sales which took effect in January 2013. The tax had an immediate and harmful impact on Kalamazoo-based employer Stryker, resulting in employee layoffs and fewer dollars for research and development. That is why I cosponsored bipartisan legislation to repeal it and voted to repeal it every time it came before the House. In 2016, bipartisan opponents of the tax were successful in delaying it for two years, and most recently, President Trump repealed it completely in signing the FY 2020 Budget into law.