May 24, 2011

The Honorable Dave Camp

Chairman
Committee on Ways and Means
1102 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairman Camp:

I applaud your leadership in the U.S. House on tax code reform and new tax policies that encourage innovation and investment
while making American companies more competitive internationally. As you prepare a package of tax legislation aimed at spurring job
creation and economic growth I ask that you strongly consider the following initiatives:

• Simplify and Reduce Business and Individual Tax Rates: High business and marginal tax rates discourage work,
savings, and investment and reduce incentives for small businesses to hire, invest and prosper. Congress must reform both the
individual and corporate tax systems to provide lower rates while also closing tax loopholes. These changes would encourage
growth and job creation.
• Make Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credit Permanent: Making the R&D tax credit permanent would
support innovation in the United States by providing the assurance and certainty that the temporary nature of the credit
currently does not provide.
• Extend and Make Permanent the Small Business Investment Tax Incentive: Small businesses should be able to
immediately write off equipment purchases as tax deductions.
• Reduce Taxes on Capital Gains and Dividends: We should eliminate the uncertainty hanging over investors by making
lower taxes on capital gains and dividends permanent.
• Eliminate Wasteful and Unnecessary Tax Subsidies: Congress should eliminate all duplicative and wasteful tax
subsidies, including the refundable Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit that costs taxpayers more than $6 billion every year.

Mr. Chairman, we must renew our focus on policies that create jobs and grow our economy. We must move away from the
past economic policies of more spending, more borrowing and higher taxes and toward a pro-growth agenda that will lead our Nation
toward a balanced budget, more jobs and a stronger economy. These are the tools that our job-creators need.

I look forward to working with you on these issues and thank you again pfor your strong leadership. Best personal wishes.

Sincerely,

M Leonard Lance
Member of Congress