For Immediate Release:
5/12/99
ATR Hails
Catania-Evans Tax Cut for D.C.
WASHINGTON - This week,
after weeks of wrangling over City Council members David Catania
(R) and Jack Evans (D) proposed tax cut, all sides reached
consensus for a reduction of income, property and business taxes
for residents and businesses of Washington, DC.
“This is progress. While
Catania and Evans were not able to secure the full tax cut that
they were seeking, the tax cut as passed is an important step in
the right direction for the District,” said Grover Norquist,
president of Americans for Tax Reform.
The Catania-Evans tax cut
plan, as adopted, will provide $893 million in tax relief over the
next five years. Key features of the tax cut
include:
- Reduce by one-third
personal income taxes for individuals with taxable income of
less than $10,000 from the current
rate of 6% to 4%.
- Reduce the middle income tax rate by 25%
from the current rate of 8% to 6%.
- Reduce the marginal tax
rate for the highest income bracket from the current 9.5% to
8.5%.
- Incrementally adjust the top income tax bracket which
currently begins at $20,000 to $40,000.
- Reduce the franchise
business tax by 15%.
- Residential property taxes will be
reduced by 37%.
- Commercial property taxes will be reduced by
14%.
- Exempts the first 50,000 from personal property
taxes.
- Exempts Internet access charges from the sales
tax.
“Today’s taxpayers face an
average tax burden of almost 40% of their income. That’s higher
than at any other time since WWII. That means that the average
taxpayer pays more in federal, state and local taxes than they do
on food, shelter and clothing combined.
“City Council Members David
Catania and Jack Evans have shown that they are aggressive tax
cutters who work hard for the interests of taxpayers in Washington
DC. We hope that Congress will follow the lead of the DC City
Council and pass broad, across-the-board tax cuts this year for
all taxpayers,” concluded Norquist.
Americans for Tax Reform is
a non-partisan coalition of over 90,000 taxpayers and taxpayer
advocates who oppose all tax increases at the state and federal
levels.
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