Tester unveils tax cut plan for middle class

Bill provides $80 billion in tax relief over three years

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Montana's working and middle-class families will benefit from a new, long-term tax cut package announced today by Senator Jon Tester and several colleagues.

"The vibrant middle class that made this country great has been abandoned," Tester said.  "We need legislation that will help folks that are struggling to pay for health care, putting kids through school, taking care of an aging parent, or maybe all three.  This bill does just that and it's the kind of policy that the people of Montana sent me here to support."

The Middle Class Opportunity Act of 2007 provides $80 billion in tax relief for America's middle class families between now and 2010.  The measure has four components, designed to provide targeted tax relief at key phases of a family's lifetime:

• The     bill helps families with young children by doubling the child tax     credit in the first year. It also expands the dependent care tax     credit.

• It     helps families avoid unfair tax penalties by providing working families relief     from the individual Alternative Minimum Tax.  The AMT was     designed to affect only wealthy families.

• It     helps families send kids to college by simplifying, consolidating and     expanding tax benefits for college students.

• It     helps families care for their aging parents by providing a new     elder-care tax credit.

Tax relief for working and middle class families was a central theme of Tester's Senate campaign and an issue he has long championed.

Joining Tester for today's news conference were Senators Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Robert Casey, D-Penn., Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.