As a former small business owner, I understand all too well that excessive government regulation and prohibitive taxes can mean the difference between growing your business and shutting down. Also, as a man with a wife and three children, I understand the need for individual relief from taxes as well. Americans have been over and unnecessarily taxed for far too long, which is why I was very much in favor of the historic pro-growth, pro-family tax reform legislation that passed in 2017.

H.R. 1 The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act: The average South Carolinian has received a tax break of $1,070. This has been especially helpful for families trying to make ends meet, and working paycheck to paycheck.

This bill lowered the corporate tax rate to incentivize job creators and investors that will make our economy much more competitive. Small businesses are thriving as rates for pass through income are lowered, and more income can be written off. Corporations have benefited from lowering the corporate rate from 35% (one of the highest rates in the industrialized world), to a much more competitive 21% rate. This has directly lead to greater job creation and wage growth for American workers, and eliminated one of the main factors pushing companies overseas. Our unemployment rate is 3.8%, the lowest level in nearly 20 years, and thousands of workers have received bonuses.

Families have saved, thanks to the expansion of the Child Tax Credit to $2,000. It is also worth noting that a number of popular tax provisions remained in the tax code, including the adoption tax credit, medical expense deductions, charitable contributions, graduate student tuition waivers, and a modified mortgage deduction.

At the end of the day, this bill is has put more money in the pockets of those who truly need it, the working families who finally feel some relief from the size and scope of the federal government. While we have much more work to do to ensure our prosperity for generations to come, I am certainly pleased by the step we have taken in lowering the tax burden for American families and job creators.

It is also very exciting to note that Senator Tim Scott's Investing in Opportunity Act (IIOA) was included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act which was signed into law on December 22, 2018. The IIOA aims to give distressed communities more opportunities for economic investment by creating tax incentives, and every county represented in the Third District has been designated an opportunity zone.