For decades, Washington’s spending problem led to a tax code that hurt American families, small businesses, and our nation's economy. In 2017, Congress passed and President Trump signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. This bill creates a simpler and fairer code for all Americans. It creates and keeps jobs here at home while giving small business owners the flexibility they need to grow. Most importantly, this plan allows you to keep more of your hard-earned paycheck.

In this plan, we double the standard deduction and get rid of special interest loopholes, leveling the playing field for the middle class, and allowing you to keep more hard-earned income in your wallet. In fact, the average American family will see a tax cut of $2,059. And by overhauling the code to make it simple and fair, we finally end the days of wasting time and money just trying to figure out how to file your family’s tax return.

With passage of this law, America can once again be the world leader in job creation and economic growth, and we can rebuild our middle class by making sure those high-paying jobs are created right here at home instead of foreign countries. Since passage of this bill, numerous companies across the country and in Louisiana have announced bonuses, pay raises, new hiring, and more investments in the American economy. The facts don’t lie, tax reform works.

The bill also included some big wins for Louisiana. Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, revenue sharing for Gulf States would be increased by $300 million, and Louisiana should expect to receive at least $100 million of that funding to restore our coast and protect against future storms. This is a landmark victory for coastal restoration and puts down an important marker for future increases in Louisiana’s revenue sharing.

Additionally, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act protected the Historic Tax Credit, which has been used across Louisiana to preserve of state’s unique architecture and history. The important benefits of the historic tax credit will help Louisiana continue to preserve and revitalize areas across our state.

This law also provided tax relief to victims of major floods across Louisiana during 2016. Tens of thousands of Louisianans were affected by flooding during 2016. This disaster tax relief will allow individuals and families to take a tax deduction for the property losses they suffered because of those storms, and it also eliminates IRS’s early withdrawal tax penalty for those who used their retirement funds to recover and rebuild.

Simply put: This reform puts more money into the pockets of hard-working families, creates more jobs at higher wages, and gets our economy growing again.

Congressman Scalise will continue to support and fight for legislation that lowers taxes, cuts wasteful government spending and strengthens our economy.

For more information concerning Congressman Scalise's work and views on Taxes and Economic issues, please contact his Washington, DC office.