U.S. Representative Jeff Denham (R-Turlock) this week cast his vote in support of the State and Local Sales Tax Deduction Fairness Act of 2015 and the Death Tax Repeal Act of 2015. Both these pieces of legislation aim to reduce the tax burden on American families and small businesses by eliminating unnecessary taxes and simplifying our existing tax code.

“This week too many American families have experienced firsthand the frustrations of trying to navigate our almost incomprehensible tax code,” said Rep. Denham. “It’s estimated that the average American spends 13 hours each year preparing their taxes. I remain fully committed to finding solutions to lessen that burden and help establish a fairer, simpler, and flatter tax code. This starts with repealing unnecessary taxes that impede our job creators’ abilities to hire more workers and penalize small businesses.”

The State and Local Sales Tax Deduction Fairness Act of 2015, H.R. 622, will make permanent the current choice taxpayers have on their federal returns to either deduct their state income tax or their sales taxes. This especially benefits the approximately one in five Americans living in states with no income tax.

The Death Tax Repeal Act of 2015, H.R. 1105, amends the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes. Rep. Denham is a co-sponsor of this bill, which allows family businesses to stay open for future generations by removing an exorbitant 40 percent tax they would need to pay in order to pass hard-earned income down to their descendants. A 2012 study by the Joint Economic Committee concluded that the estate tax has reduced the amount of capital stock in the U.S. economy by roughly $1.1 trillion since its introduction.