A Missouri Congressman who serves on the House Ways and Means Committee says cutting taxes is the key to helping working families.
Congressman Jason Smith (R-Missouri)
U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Salem, serves on the Ways and Means and Budget committees.
The Salem Republican will be flying on Air Force One with President Donald Trump (R) Wednesday from Washington to St. Louis Lambert International Airport.
“He (President Trump) knows that tax cuts for the folks in Missouri will unleash the economy and are the people that he’s trying to help the most, and it’s nice to have him back in our state,” Smith says.
Smith notes the president delivered his first tax cut speech during an August visit to southwest Missouri’s Springfield.
Smith, who also serves as the House GOP Conference Secretary, tells Missourinet it’s the first time he’s been invited to fly on Air Force One with President Trump.
“You know every time that I speak to this president, I always want to tell him the importance of unleashing the economy in Missouri and rural Missouri,” says Smith.
Smith, who represents 30 southern Missouri counties, says the GOP tax plan will benefit working families. He says many of them live paycheck-to-paycheck.
Missouri Democratic Party Chairman Stephen Webber, a former state lawmaker from Columbia, has issued a statement about President Trump’s Wednesday visit, and on the GOP tax plan.
“Higher taxes on millions of middle-class Missourians. More expensive healthcare. Less money in the pockets of seniors throughout the entire state. That’s exactly how Donald Trump’s tax scam rips off working families in Missouri while also giving away handouts to billionaires and millionaires,” Webber’s statement says.
U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Kansas City, has also criticized President Trump’s tax plan, saying it would provide tax breaks to billionaires and millionaires.
Congressman Smith describes Chairman Webber’s statement as “laughable.”
“If you make less than $55,000 a year and you’re a family of four in Missouri, you will pay zero in taxes,” Smith says. “That is a tax cut.”
Smith complains the tax code has changed more than 6,000 times since 2001. He also notes there hasn’t been a comprehensive tax code rewrite since 1986.
President Trump will discuss tax reform at 2:30 Wednesday afternoon at the St. Charles Convention Center, which sits near I-70.
In addition to Smith, U.S. Reps. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-St. Elizabeth, Billy Long, R-Springfield, and Sam Graves, R-Tarkio, will join the president in St. Charles.
Governor Eric Greitens’ spokesman, Parker Briden, tells Missourinet that the GOP Governor will also join President Trump on Wednesday.
Click here to listen to the full five-minute interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and Missouri Congressman Jason Smith, which was recorded on November 28, 2017: