Begich fought taxes on Alaska’s small businesses and energy industry

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 4/15/2014

ANCHORAGE: As a small businessman Mark Begich knows the importance of supporting Alaska’s job creating small businesses by reducing tax burdens. Begich supports a simplified tax system and believes Alaskans should be able to do their taxes on a single page.

Begich’s has supported efforts to require the federal government to budget the same as Alaska’s families while providing tax relief to businesses who create jobs. Begich’s record includes:

• Begich supports a Balanced Budget Amendment.
• Begich voted against $975 billion in taxes in a Senate Democrats 2013 budget proposal.
• Begich passed $288 billion in tax relief including a program offering a $400 tax credit to individual workers.
• Begich has supported payroll tax reductions to provide relief to workers.
• Begich is fighting to increase flexibility for small businesses to write off ‘depreciation’ investments in the first year.
• Begich supported a permanent patch for the Alternative Minimum Tax, saving 28 million taxpayers an average of $3,400 in 2014.
• Begich made permanent tax credits for families with children.
• Begich supported Alaska’s job creating small businesses by protecting credit unions tax-exempt status, which ensures continued access to affordable credit for small businesses.
• Begich supports pay-as-you-go budgeting to require the federal government to budget the same as Alaska’s families do.
• Begich fought for IRS refunds for Alaska air taxi operators who were improperly assessed excise taxes.
• Begich successfully repealed the burdensome 1099 tax reporting requirement for small businesses.

Additionally, Begich supports Alaska jobs by consistently opposing efforts by the president and national Democrats to unfairly target tax incentives for oil & gas development:

• In 2009, Begich called for a guarantee for no additional big taxes on oil & gas industry.
• In May 2011, Begich slammed Democrats for singling out the oil & gas industry in tax reform efforts.
• In August 2011, Begich joined two Democrats and six Republicans to call on the president to drop a plan to selectively target oil & gas companies in its debt-cutting efforts.
• In March 2012, Begich was one of three Democrats to vote against a measure that targeted billions in oil & gas incentives. He was one of just four senators total to vote against a cloture motion on the bill.
• In February 2013, Begich fought national Democrats to drop a plan to include oil and gas penalties in budgeting legislation.

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