ECONOMIC AND FISCAL POLICY

Our nation is in a deep recession and the situation is particularly dire in Michigan. Since January 2001, the United States has lost close to three million manufacturing jobs. Michigan's unemployment rate is among the highest in the nation. The economy is in very bad shape and it is getting worse. That is why it is so important that we are taking aggressive action now.

Senator Levin believes we need a comprehensive economic recovery effort balanced on a three-legged stool consisting of creating jobs, unfreezing credit markets, and addressing the housing crisis.

Job creation must be our number one priority as we work to turn the economy around, and jobs are the focus of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act that Senator Levin supported and was signed into law in February 2009.   The provisions in this bill are designed to create jobs, including a $150 billion investment in the nation’s infrastructure. 

Senator Levin  knows that too many creditworthy businesses are having trouble getting their loans renewed or are facing higher rates during already difficult economic times.   As the Obama Treasury and banking regulators work toward resuming the flow of credit, Congress must continue to exercise stringent oversight of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) program and work to reform our financial system to restore commonsense regulation of this industry.

Senator Levin will continue to fight for fair tax and economic policies in the months and years ahead.

Fair Taxes and Fiscal Responsibility

Senator Levin has long been a fighter for fair taxes and fiscal responsibility.  He believes that honest taxpayers should not pay more than their fair share and has been a tireless advocate in the Senate for closing the $345 billion annual tax gap, which is the difference between the amount of taxes owed and what is actually paid.  Senator Levin has led the Senate’s most in-depth investigations into abusive tax shelters and offshore tax havens, which are used by businesses and high-income individuals to dodge payment of their taxes, and has introduced tough legislation to put an end to offshore tax shenanigans that cost the Treasury over $100 billion each year.

Senator Levin has been the Senate leader in the fight to prohibit contracts to companies who move their headquarters offshore to avoid paying U.S. taxes.  In addition, Senator Levin has fought to crack down on federal contractors who don’t pay their taxes, helping to increase collections on delinquent companies eightfold between 2003 and 2006, and has introduced legislation to create a centralized electronic federal tax lien filing system that would result in taxpayer savings of approximately $570 million.

In his fight for tax fairness and fiscal responsibility, Senator Levin supports revisiting the Bush Administration’s irresponsible and unfair tax cuts that have driven us so deeply into our current ditch of debt.  Senator Levin supports spending hard-earned taxpayer dollars on national priorities, rather than interest payments or tax cuts for the wealthiest among us, and he is willing to make tough choices so we don’t pass on a crippling burden of debt to our children and grandchildren.

In place of the Bush Administration’s budget-busting tax cuts for the wealthiest among us, Senator Levin supports real tax reform to ensure that taxes are distributed fairly among all Americans.  With middle-class families getting squeezed from all sides, Senator Levin supports middle-class tax relief.  This includes eliminating the marriage penalty, increasing the child tax credit, expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit and offering higher education tax incentives to help make college more affordable.

Senator Levin also supports permanent reform of the Alternative Minimum Tax so that it does not impose an unintended tax increase on millions of middle income families, and responsible reform of the estate tax.