News

Today, Senator Rubio submitted the following statement for the record regarding the American Jobs Act of 2011.

Mr. President:

I strongly oppose S.1660, the American Jobs Act of 2011.

I am eager to work with members of both parties to find common ground on policies that will help grow the economy at a time when our nation continues to struggle with high unemployment and low economic growth. To be clear, there are certain proposals in the American Jobs Act that I would support individually, including an extension of the payroll tax cut, allowing businesses to fully expense the cost of acquiring new capital, and a delay of the three percent withholding penalty on government contractors. These provisions would provide piecemeal relief to the economy.

Unfortunately, the positive provisions in the American Jobs Act are overshadowed by a massive $453 billion tax hike that would be highly damaging to the ability of businesses that pay individual tax rates to expand operations, hire new workers and compete internationally. According to data from the Department of the Treasury, 80 percent of taxpayers affected by this new 5.6 percent tax increase would be business owners. Furthermore, the Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that 34 percent of business income would be ensnared by the job-destroying tax increase in S.1660.

Worse, if the 2001 tax relief expires as scheduled in 2013, this new tax surcharge would push the top marginal tax rate to nearly 50 percent when accounting for the new 3.8% Medicare tax on unearned income in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. It would also sharply increase taxes on capital gains and dividends investment, hurting small businesses and investors.

Small businesses have been burdened by more than $1 trillion new taxes and penalties in the health care law and regulatory agencies have churned out over 60,000 pages of new federal regulations this calendar year alone. Simply put, they cannot afford the burden of another tax hike from Washington under the guise of job creation.

This is why the nation’s leading business groups representing millions of American business owners, including the National Federation of Independent Business and the National Association of Manufacturers, all strongly oppose the permanent tax hike in S.1660. This is why a growing group of Democrats vocally oppose this legislation, and why I oppose proceeding to it. 

Since I joined the Senate nine months ago, I have maintained my strong belief that Democrats and Republicans should work together to pass policies proven to boost economic growth like pro-growth tax and regulatory reform, lowering barriers to free trade, and cutting spending to avert our looming debt crisis. Unfortunately, the huge tax increases on job creators and more debt-financed stimulus spending in the American Jobs Act would move our nation in squarely the wrong direction.