The U.S. House of Representatives last week passed the Financial Freedom Act, which was written with the help of Rep. Mac Collins, R-Hampton, 223 to 208. The measure now goes to the U.S. Senate.

“There are a lot of people in this town who can't wait to get their hands on Georgia taxpayers' wallets, but my answer is, `enough is enough,'” Collins said. “The non-Social Security surplus is made up of over-payments that ought to be returned to the people before the money starts burning a hole in these bureaucrats' pockets.” “I'd sooner let a fox guard a henhouse than leave tax overpayments in Washington for safe-keeping,” Collins said. “There isn't enough discipline in this town to keep bureaucrats and politicians from spending any so-called surpluses.”

The Financial Freedom Act contains a 10 percent across-the board tax cut that will be phased in over ten years.

The cut has a fail-safe to protect future balanced budgets, that is triggered by interest payments on the national debt, Collins explained.

“If revenues fall below projections and endanger the balanced budget, the reductions are frozen,” he said.

Collins said the bill contains measures that encourage savings and investment. “A high tax burden is a sure way to guarantee that earnings cannot be saved and invested. This legislation contains incentives to save by providing average Americans a tax exclusion for $200 (singles) and $400 (joint filers) interest on savings,” he said.

“We broaden Education Savings Accounts so we can reduce the tax costs for parents saving money for their children's educations,” he added. “Some 70 percent of these ESA savings would go to families with children in public schools. We encourage small businesses to invest by reducing capital gains tax rates. Small businesses generate the most jobs in America and are a major source of our economic strength. By phasing down and eventually repealing the estate tax, we will preserve the family farms and businesses that will otherwise have to be sold to pay the death tax.

“The bill makes health coverage more affordable by allowing taxpayers, not fully covered by an employer-sponsored plan, to deduct the costs of health insurance,” he added.

The bill also removes the tax disparity for married couples, Collins said. More than 21 million married couples pay an average of $1,400 more in taxes than they would if they were single. The legislation provides them a larger joint deduction.

During consideration of the bill by the Ways and Means Committee, Collins introduced two amendments that he said will cut red tape without costing extra money. One Collins-authored amendment simplified taxation of distilled spirits wholesalers so that the taxes would no longer provide an advantage for foreign-distilled spirits.

He also succeeded in amending the Financial Freedom Act to make it possible for land owners who occasionally sell timber to sell their timber in lots.

Under present regulations, land owners can be categorized as “dealers” by the Internal Revenue Service and must use a more wasteful “pay as cut” method to qualify for certain capital gains tax treatment, he said. This method often results in wastage of timber and land, as well as tax avoidance.

“This was a win-win amendment — even the IRS wanted to simplify this provision of the code,” Collins said.