Joe Pitts represents the 16th Congressional District of Pennsylvania, a diverse district stretching from the western Philadelphia suburbs further west into the Pennsylvania “Dutch” Country. Joe Pitts’ life and career have been wide-ranging as well: he has worked as a teacher, a small business owner, an Air Force officer, and a legislator. In addition to Pennsylvania, he has lived in Kentucky, the Philippines, and the various places the Air Force sent him.
Joe brings this rich and varied background into his work as a legislator. The fact that he joined the Air Force because he couldn’t afford to raise his family on a teacher’s salary helps him understand the hardships many people are going through. His combat experience gives him an appreciation of the sacrifices of our men and women in uniform. His time as small business owner gives him a better understanding of how government policies can help or hurt job creation. His time living abroad gives him sensitivity and insight into how our nation is seen abroad and a strong desire to fight for human rights.
Joe is an independent-minded conservative who knows that Republicans lost their moral authority during the last years of the Republican majority. He has a record of making up his own mind about legislation. He voted against one-third of his own party’s appropriations bills because they spent too much. He doesn’t do “earmarks.” He opposed President Bush’s signature legislation, the No Child Left Behind Act, because it spent too much and did too many things that were best left to states and school districts. Once, on the floor of the House, he stared down then-Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, Majority Leader Dick Armey, and Republic Whip Tom DeLay and successfully defeated a major bankruptcy reform bill because he found it discriminatory.
Joe is a family-oriented conservative who believes strong families are the key to America’s prosperity. While others debate whether more or less regulation, this or that government program, or higher or lower taxes will make America stronger, Joe knows that the family is the fundamental building block of society. No amount of government spending can make a child succeed unless that child has the values and desire to succeed that only a strong family can instill.
Joe is the son of an army officer who returned to the Philippines after World War II as a missionary. Joe spent much of his youth in Philippines, where some of his childhood friends had spent their earliest years in Japanese detention camps. He attended Asbury College in Kentucky, where he met his wife Ginny. Joe received a Master’s Degree in Education from West Chester University in Pennsylvania.
Joe and Ginny taught school in Kentucky until the birth of their first child. Not long after, Joe volunteered for the Air Force, serving from 1963 to 1969. He rose to the rank of Captain and flew 116 combat missions on B-52s during Vietnam. He was a navigator and electronic warfare officer. It was that experience that led him to found the Electronic Warfare Working Group in Congress, advocating for critical technological investments that are currently saving lives in Afghanistan and Iraq.
After leaving the Air Force, Joe returned to teaching math and science at Great Valley High School in Chester County, Pennsylvania.
At the urging of his friends, Joe unexpectedly ran for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1972 and won. His candidacy was part of a reform movement within the Chester County Republican Party known as the “Independents.” His victory sent a powerful message that from then on democracy, not machine politics, was going to rule in Chester County.
Joe served for 24 years in Harrisburg, eventually chairing the House Appropriations Committee—a position he attained specifically because of his reputation for ethics and fair dealing. In that position, he worked with governors and colleagues in both parties to balance eight state budgets in a row, even during the recession of 1990-1991—without a federal bailout.
In 1996 Joe was elected to Congress after winning a five-way primary election and a well-funded Democrat in the general election. Before his appointment to the important Energy and Commerce Committee, Joe served on the House Budget Committee, the International Relations Committee (now known as the Foreign Affairs Committee), the Small Business Committee, the House Armed Services Committee, and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
As a member of the Budget Committee, he co-wrote the only four balanced budgets enacted into law since the Lyndon Johnson Administration. Each of those budgets, negotiated with President Clinton, actually paid off some of the government’s debt.
Joe is now a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, one of the most powerful committees in Congress. He serves on the Health Subcommittee, the Energy and Environment Subcommittee, and the Commerce Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee.
Joe is an advocate for fiscal responsibility, refusing to request earmarks and voting against Democratic and Republican legislation if he feels it is irresponsibly expensive.
Joe is an advocate for truly bipartisan health reform, working with New York Democrat Nydia Velazquez, chairwoman of the Small Business Committee, to introduce the Small Business CHOICE Act, which would make it easier for small businesses to offer health insurance for their employees.
Joe is an advocate for conservation, the environment, and clean energy. He convinced Congress to protect the White Clay Creek and the historically important open space surrounding the Brandywine Battlefield in Chester County. He introduced the SAFE Nuclear Act to help transition away from fossil fuels. He co-chairs the Conservation Caucus in the House.
Two other important caucuses he chairs are the Values Action Team and the Electronic Warfare Working Group. The Values Action Team advocates for pro-family legislation in the House, while the Electronic Warfare Working Group helps preserve America’s technological edge when it comes to military technology and the electromagnetic spectrum.
Joe is also an active member in the Republican Study Committee (the conservative caucus in the House) and the bipartisan Pro-Life Caucus. He sits on the Helsinki Commission, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, and the Congressional-Executive Commission on China; these commissions provide him with a forum from which to advocate for human rights internationally.
At home, Joe is a member of the Brandywine Valley Association, the Po-Mar-Lin Fire Company, his local Rotary Club, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Among the many award and honors he has received are the Guardian of Small Business Award from the National Federal of Independent Business, The Taxpayer Hero Award from Citizens Against Government Waste, the Hero of the Taxpayer Award from Americans for Tax Reform, and the William Wilberforce Award from Prison Fellowship Ministries. He received special recognition from the North Korea Freedom Coalition for his role in passage of the North Korea Human Rights Act, and from the Brandywine Conservancy for his leadership in Congressional efforts to aid in conservation of open space.
Joe and Ginny have three grown children and four grandchildren.
One of Sweden’s most profitable exports in recent decades has been IKEA, the furniture and home goods retailer. IKEA stores have spread to 39 countries and customers will travel hours to reach the nearest store. Their stylish but inexpensive products have made IKEA one of the world’s most recognizable brands.
But technically IKEA isn’t Swedish anymore. Because of especially high estate taxes, IKEA moved their headquarters to the Netherlands. After losing one of their premier brands, the Swedish government repealed the tax in 2004. Since that time, it’s estimated that over 4,000 wealthy Swedes have returned to live—and pay taxes—in their native country. Unfortunately, IKEA still won’t be moving back in.
The United States also realized that the estate tax was bad for the American economy and in 2001 Congress began to gradually decrease the rate of taxation and the number of individuals subject to the tax. This year, the tax was totally eliminated.
Unfortunately, Senate procedures caused the 2001 tax bill to be modified so that the tax will revert to Clinton-era levels in 2011. This has made estate planning for family businesses and farms extremely difficult. Many need two separate plans for what to do should the business owner pass away this year or next year.
Before 2001, the government taxed the transfer of an estate worth more than $1 million at a 55 percent rate. Handing down a business or family farm to a son or daughter required extensive estate planning to ensure that property or equipment did not have to be sold to pay the tax. However, the sudden death of a business owner could be devastating.
In the case of family farms, the business may be land-rich but cash-poor. Instead of keeping the farm in the family, parcels have sold to developers to pay the estate tax. In the 16th Congressional District, I’ve met with many farmers who could see a decades-old family farm turned into a housing development if the full tax comes back next year.
Estate planning, because of its complexity and the need to hire a good lawyer, is both time-consuming and expensive. This is money and time spent on managing the estate, not managing and growing the business.
While many would like to think that the estate tax only affects the wealthy, every American pays a price in reduced economic growth and job opportunities.
A recent study by Dr. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former Director of the Congressional Budget Office, found that full and lasting repeal of the federal estate tax would have a dramatically positive effect on the economy. According to his estimates, the current jobless rate could fall by almost 1 percent.
Repeal could increase small business capital by over $1.6 trillion. Small business owners would create an estimated 1.5 million new small business jobs since they could hire with the confidence that the business would not have to be radically restructured after they pass away.
At the beginning of this Congress, I introduced H.R. 1960, Permanent Repeal of the Death Tax. This bill would keep the estate tax from returning next year, or ever again. I don’t think that the Democrat-controlled Congress will seriously consider the bill, but I think it’s the best way to ensure that businesses and farms go to families and not the government.
There’s a strong temptation for Congress to bring back the estate tax since at least on paper it appears to bring in lots of tax revenue. But projected revenue rarely matches actual money brought into the treasury because individuals take action to reduce their tax liability. However, a strong job market enhances government revenue.
I don’t think we want to see American businesses fleeing to other countries. Sweden had to learn the hard way by watching one of their most iconic brands move across the sea. We should learn from their example and avoid the consequences of lost jobs and slower economic growth.
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