President Signs Tax Relief Bill Benefiting Millions of Families
Remarks by the President on the Signing of the Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004
South Suburban Ymca
Des Moines, Iowa
11:24 P.M. CDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Thanks for coming today. Thank you
all. Please be seated. Mr. Chairman -- (laughter) -- you probably
think I've come here to sign an important piece of legislation.
Actually, I'm here for a different reason. The south lawn of the White
House has a lot of grass -- (laughter) -- I'm looking for somebody to
mow it. (Laughter and applause.) And so Mr. Chairman, you shall now
be known as "Grass-mower." (Laughter.) And, by the way, when you're
through using that car -- (laughter) -- I've always liked an old Olds.
(Laughter.) I appreciate you being here, Mr. Chairman; proud to call
you friend. (Applause.)
Thanks for being here, as well. It's a beautiful day here in
Iowa. Iowa is such a beautiful place. Today, with my signature,
federal law will extend vital tax relief for millions of American
families and add momentum to our growing economy. Today, here in Des
Moines, Iowa, the Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004 becomes the
law of the land, and I appreciate you being here to watch it.
(Applause.)
And I really do appreciate working with Mr. Chairman. He's had a
remarkable tenure as Chairman of the Finance Committee in the Senate.
We have accomplished a lot together. I appreciate other members of the
congressional delegation who are with us today: the Chairman of the
Budget Committee in the House of Representatives, Jim Nussle; thank you
for coming, Jim. (Applause.) Jim Leach, Congressman Jim Leach is with
us. (Applause.) I appreciate my friend, Jim Leach being here, as well
as Congressman Tom Latham. I'm honored they are here. (Applause.)
Not here is head of the Ways and Means Committee in the House of
Representatives, Chairman Bill Thomas, of California. I appreciate his
hard work on this bill and I appreciate him working with Chuck Grassley
to get the bill done. I also want to thank Minority Leader in the
House of Representatives on the -- in the Ways and Means Committee,
Charlie Rangel, Democrat from New York, for working on this bill; as
well as Senator Max Baucus, Democrat from Montana, for working with
Chuck Grassley on the bill, as well. I want to thank all the members
of Congress who worked hard to get this bill done.
I appreciate members of the ex-governors club who've joined us
today. I happen to be a member of that club, as well. (Applause.)
I'm a fellow member. (Laughter.) Terry Branstad and Bob Ray have
served your state so very well, and I appreciate their friendship.
(Applause.) And I'm glad Billie Ray is with Bob. I'll tell Mother and
Dad "hello" for both of you. Appreciate you coming.
I want to thank all the state and local officials who are here. I
particularly want to thank the president and CEO of the YMCA, Vernon
Delpesce, as well as Dave Hoak, who's the chairman of the Y, for
letting us use this facility for this bill signing ceremony. I want to
thank the Patterson family who is with us here. They're beneficiaries
of the tax relief. I spent some time with them backstage. I'll be
speaking about another family here in a minute.
The law I sign this morning comes at just the right time for
America. Some of tax relief provisions we passed over the last three
years were set to expire at the end of 2004. Unless we acted, a family
of four earning $40,000 would have seen their federal income taxes rise
by more than $900. That would have been a burden for hardworking
families across America. And it would have been a setback for our
economy.
Today we're acting to keep vital tax relief in place. The
bipartisan bill I sign today extends the $1,000 child tax credit, the
marriage penalty relief and the expanded 10 percent tax bracket. It
also protects millions of families from having to pay the alternative
minimum tax in 2005. That tax was designed over three decades ago to
make sure wealthy Americans pay their fair share of taxes. But now it
affects middle income families. This bill will also increase the child
credit refunds for almost 7 million low-income families in the 2004 tax
year.
Overall, 94 million Americans will have a lower tax bill next year,
including 70 million women and 38 million families with children. The
money they keep will make it easier to save for their retirement, or
their children's education, invest in a home or a small business, or
pay off credit card debts. One of those families is the Hintz family,
from Clive, Iowa. Thank you all for coming. (Applause.)
It's a special day for Mike and Sharla, not because they're with
the President or with Chairman Grassley, but because it's their 13th
wedding anniversary. (Applause.) Theirs is a typical story. See,
last year they received a child tax credit check for $1,600 for their
four children. And under all the tax relief we've passed, they saved
about $2,800 last year. With this extra money they bought a
wood-burning stove to reduce their home heating costs. They made a
decision for their family.
They also made home repairs and improvements. They took the family
on a vacation to Minnesota. Next year when you get your check, you may
want to come to Texas. (Laughter.) Without the tax bill I'm signing
today, the Hintzes would have paid $1,200 more in federal taxes next
year. Think about that. Here's a family of four, working hard to
raise their kids, the money would have been going out of their pocket.
I believe they can spend that $1,200 better than the federal government
can. (Applause.)
This legislation will have good effects throughout the economy.
The tax relief we passed in 2001 has helped our economy overcome a lot
of challenges -- a stock market decline, a recession, terrorist
attacks, and war. By extending key portions of that tax relief, we
will leave close to $50 billion next year in the hands of the people
who earned it. And that money will help keep the economy moving
forward, and result in even more new jobs for American workers.
This act of Congress is essential, but it's only a start. Over the
next few years, if we fail to take further action, the tax relief will
expire and federal income taxes will go up for every American who pays
them. For the sake of our families and small businesses, and farmers,
investors, and seniors, we need to make all the tax relief permanent.
We need to make sure the death tax doesn't come back to life.
(Applause.) We need to keep the tax relief we enacted for investors
and small businesses. We need to reform the tax code to make it
simpler, easier to understand, and pro-growth. To keep the economy
growing, we need to reduce the burden of regulation on small
businesses. To keep our economy growing, we need to end the junk
lawsuits that keep entrepreneurs from creating new jobs. To keep the
economy growing, we need an energy plan to make sure America is less
dependent on foreign sources of energy, by using alternative uses of
energy like ethanol and biodiesel. (Applause.) We need to open up
foreign markets for our products and to continue to ensure that other
countries play by the rules. We need spending discipline in our
nation's capital. (Applause.)
I look forward to working with the Congress to achieve all these
goals. When we keep taxes low and trust our American families with
their own money, they spend it far more wisely than we can. And when
they do, they make the American economy stronger.
I appreciate the members of Congress who are here today. I wish
they'd come up and join me as, in the great city of Des Moines, Iowa, I
sign into law the Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004. (Applause.)