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Senate Should OK Tax Relief

Would you consider yourself better off if, at the stroke of a pen, someone increased your take-home pay by nearly $2,000 a year? Of course you would.

Most Americans would be very grateful if the federal government stopped digging so deeply into our pockets. On average, Uncle Sam takes about $5,680 a year from every man, woman and child in the country annually through income taxes.

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives approved a tax reform bill last week. Now, the ball is in the Senate’s court. Conservatives there hope to pass their own version of tax reform this week.

It would accomplish several things. One important provision would lower the corporate income tax rate, among the highest in the world at about 35 percent. Both House and Senate bills aim to drop that to 20 percent, freeing up money companies can use to pay employees better, invest in new equipment — and create new jobs.

But under both bills, virtually every American would get at least some tax relief. That would mean more money in our pockets to make our lives and those of our children and grandchildren better — and, by our spending, to help jump-start the economy.

What would tax reform mean to me, you ask? There are slight differences in the House and Senate versions. And, depending on your financial and family situation, you could be helped a little or a lot.

The key is that, for virtually all taxpayers, at least some relief would be provided. For many, it would be substantial.

During remarks on the Senate floor last week, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., cited research showing that in West Virginia, the average middle-income family would gain $1,952 a year from the Senate’s bill.

Much more important to many Mountain State residents is the fact that, according to the same research, about 4,700 new jobs in our state would result from enactment of the bill.

This is not a pie-in-the-sky dream. Again, the House has passed a bill. Conservative senators are ready to follow suit. And if tax reform is enacted, President Donald Trump is expected to provide that stroke of a pen by signing it into law.

Most West Virginians have many reasons to be grateful this Thanksgiving. Senate approval of a tax reform bill would be one more.

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