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Rep. Blake Moore questions the Treasury Secretary on proposed budget and taxes

photo of congressman Blake Moore
Salt Lake Tribune

During the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee meeting on Friday, March 10 members of the committee took turns questioning Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on President Biden’s proposed budget for the 2024 fiscal year.

Congressman Blake Moore from Utah’s 1st Congressional District was given a block of time to question Yellen over concerns about the proposed budget.

Rep. Moore used his time to address the adoption tax credit and also corporate tax rates.

“I'm gonna talk about something very personal, something that I think that this entire committee is supportive of," Rep. Moore said. "And that is those individuals that are in the adoption space and the adoption tax credit.”

Rep. Moore also asked Secretary Yellen what the audit rate for the adoption tax credit has been over the past five years. In previous years, there had been a discrepancy in the audit rate for the families claiming adoption tax credit compared to the national average.

Yellen did not have a comment on the issue and said that she would look into it.

Then Rep. Moore asked Yellen about the raise in corporate tax rates that he noticed within the proposed budget.

“And going ahead and raising them just to cover more spending that we're seeing from the President's budget," Rep. Moore said. "What am I to tell these companies right now, as there's a potential from 21% to 28% increase, which is an enormous and it will be a very impactful increase? What am I to tell these individuals?”

Yellen answered the question by stating that these tax raises are happening to counteract the rates being dropped too low by the Tax Cuts and Job Act in 2017.

“I think it was appropriate to cut corporate tax rates," Yellen said. "We had one of the highest rates globally, and it needed to come down and it wasn't very effective in raising corporate tax revenue, but it came down too much. And I don't think we've seen the economic payoff from that.”

Caitlin Keith is a general news reporter at UPR. She is from Lindon, Utah and is currently an undergrad student studying print journalism at USU. Caitlin loves to write and tell people’s stories. She is also a writer at the Utah Statesman. She loves to read, ski, play the cello and watch various TV shows.