WASHINGTON – Yesterday, Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) sent a letter to the Chairs and Ranking Members of the Senate Committee on Finance and the House Ways and Means Committee encouraging them to make tax reform a priority in the 115th Congress and to consider the Economic Growth and Family Fairness Tax Reform Plan.

“Tax reform should not only reduce the burdens that businesses face, but also do the same for working families,” the letter readers. “Families are the building blocks of our country, the fundamental units of society, and vital to passing down our values from generation to generation. Strong families are also incubators of economic opportunity, financial security, and generate the social capital upon which our free enterprise economy and constitutional republic depend.

With this in mind, it is concerning that our tax code today treats parents unfairly. The payroll taxes that help pay for federal retirement benefits fall on American parents who simultaneously bear the financial cost of raising their children, the next generation of workers whose paychecks will be taxed to fund federal retirement benefits. This function of the tax code creates an implicit “parent tax penalty” – in effect, a tax bias against parents.”

The letter continues, “Tax relief for working families has been a bipartisan effort in the past, and we hope that will continue to be the case this year. As your committees draft legislation to reform the tax code, we urge you to carefully consider the merits of our proposal and ensure tax fairness for working families is not left out.”

Sens. Lee, Rubio Call for Fair Taxes for Families by Senator Mike Lee on Scribd