Senator Lamar Alexander praised major tax relief legislation passed by both houses of Congress. It is expected to be signed into law.
“This tax relief legislation makes permanent pro-growth, job-creating tax reductions that I have supported for many years,” Senator Alexander said. “In addition, it makes permanent the state and local sales tax deduction which, as recently as 2013, gave more than 490,000 Tennesseans the ability to deduct over $1.1 billion in state and local sales tax payments from their taxable income.
“This removes the long-term bias in favor of a state income tax imposed by the federal government.
“The pro-growth tax provisions include permanent small business expensing, known as Section 179, which allows small businesses to deduct new purchases of equipment from their federal income taxes.
“It includes making permanent the Research and Development Tax Credit which was recommended by the National Academies as one of the principal steps Congress can take to help keep America competitive with the rest of the world.
“The legislation also includes a phase-out of the Wind Production Tax Credit, which for 22 years has provided subsidies to people who invest in giant wind turbines. It’s high time for that to come to an end. Unfortunately, the so-called phase-out over five years, according to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, will cost taxpayers $14.5 billion over the next 10 years and likely billions more after that. That money could better be spent on clean energy research or on reducing the federal debt.”