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WHEELING -- Rep. David McKinley said he is concerned a tax reform package passed Thursday in Congress will increase the national debt over the next decade -- but he also believes its benefits to the economy will offset that impact.
Reforming America's tax system was needed to make the country competitive in today's global market, McKinley, R-W.Va., said.
"The last time we had tax reform was 31 years ago," he said. "The internet was in infancy … trade was different around the world and we didn't have smartphones. Society has changed, so we needed to change the tax code. … It wasn't an easy thing to do. It took some heavy lifting to bring it into the 21st century." America's corporate tax rate was 35 percent -- the highest among industrialized nations, according to McKinley. The reform package passed Thursday drops that to 21 percent. A major problem has been American companies doing business overseas that often kept profits in foreign banks to avoid American taxation, he added.
"We had to find a way to make it attractive to bring that money back and be part of the economic stimulus," McKinley said.
"If there is more money in the bank, there is more money for loans."
He said when former President Ronald Reagan pushed his tax reform initiative in the mid-1980s, people initially didn't trust the idea.
"Then we went on to have one of the greatest economic booms in our history," McKinley said.
"Now, economists are telling us this will ignite our economy."
Over the past week, McKinley said he fought to maintain in the tax package the historic preservation tax credit beneficial to many West Virginia communities -- especially Wheeling.
The federal historic tax credit will remain at 20 percent, although will be collectible not in one year but over a five-year period.
This would be in addition to West Virginia's historic preservation credit, which the state Legislature increased this year from 10 percent to 25 percent of qualified expenses.
An engineer, McKinley said he has developed 60 to 70 older properties, and felt a need to educate those in Washington about the value of historic preservation.
Most members of Congress are unaware of its economic impact in a small community, he said.
"You can do an historic preservation project in Chicago, renovate a building and nobody knows it happens," he said. "It gets lost in the tens of thousands of buildings there. Come to Wheeling, and it has a dramatic impact."