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Republican (1854-present)

Earl Blumenauer

A lifelong resident of Portland, Oregon, Congressman Earl Blumenauer is one of Oregon's innovative leaders. Raised in SE Portland, Earl attended Centennial High School. While still a college student at Lewis and Clark College, he led the campaign in Oregon to lower the voting age. He was a key player just two years later as one of the youngest legislators in Oregon's history in a landmark session for school funding, ethics reform and Oregon's groundbreaking land use laws.

As a Multnomah County Commissioner and member of the Portland City Council, Earl's innovative accomplishments in transportation with light rail, bicycles and the street car, planning and environmental programs and public participation helped Portland earn an international reputation as one of America's most livable cities.

Tax Fairness

Since coming to Congress, Earl has based his fiscal policies on five basic principles:

  • A tax system rooted in equity that actively seeks to reduce income and wealth inequality and create opportunity for all Americans;
  • Leveling the playing field for working families and small businesses;
  • Funding commitments to our children, seniors, veterans, infrastructure, and the environment;
  • Honoring our promises to present and future Social Security and Medicare recipients; and
  • Fund our nation's priorities without mortgaging our children's and grandchildren's futures.

Earl supports tax policies that are sustainable and responsive to our nation's challenges. He is fighting to ensure that Congress moves toward a fiscal framework that is sustainable, equitable, and is done with consideration of long-term consequences. As a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee, he has been a leader in combatting income and wealth inequality, investing in infrastructure and clean energy, and improving fairness in the tax code and tax administration.

Earl strongly opposed the Trump/Republican tax scam that was rammed through Congress without the benefit of a public hearing. Special interest donors and big corporations won out over hard-working Americans. Oregonians were hit particularly hard with not being able to fully deduct state income and property taxes. The tax scam also added trillions to the national deficit over the next decade to pay for the GOP's tax giveaways.

Earl believes that the tax code must be amended to provide the opportunity for all Americans to get ahead. He is working to:

  • Increase the marginal tax rate on high-income earners, including through a millionaire's surtax;
  • Raise the corporate tax rate;
  • Increase the capital gains rate and end the carried interest loophole;
  • Restore the estate tax to historic norms;
  • End the "angel of death" loophole allowing families to build intergenerational wealth without paying tax;
  • Increase resources for the Internal Revenue Service to close the tax gap and ensure compliance from all taxpayers;
  • End tax subsidies and loopholes for the fossil fuel industry while expanding clean energy tax incentives;
  • Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit for working individuals and families;
  • Expand the Child Tax Credit and make it fully refundable; and
  • Expand the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit and make it refundable.