We have to help middle class families to ensure that they can make ends meet.  To this end, I’ve worked in Congress to provide relief for New York families.  I joined as a co-sponsor of the Family Relief Act, which would increase the household and dependent care tax credit.  I’ve also co-sponsored legislation to provide tax assistance to volunteer firefighters, who are often relied on in rural Upstate communities.  The legislation I support, the Volunteer Responder Incentive Protection Act, would exempt property tax abatements and other incentives offered to volunteer emergency responders from federal tax.

I voted for a 2008 federal budget that protected working families from a tax increase by beginning to find ways to permanently fix the alternative minimum tax (AMT), which has begun to disproportionately affect middle class families. According to recent estimates, 437,000 New York families were subject to the AMT in 2004. If Washington doesn’t change the AMT, an estimated 3,194,000 families in New York would be hit by it in 2007.  And because we desperately need a permanent fix to the AMT, I’m working with my colleagues in Washington to find a compromise that everyone can support.