Melissa understands that citizens know how to spend and save their money better than the government does. While in Congress, Melissa supported successful efforts to lower the tax burden for hard working families. That tax relief provided family-friendly tax assistance, such as doubling the child tax credit to $1,000 per child and reducing the marriage penalty, which taxes married couples more than singles. The death tax was reduced and repealed. This onerous tax is especially detrimental to main street businesses and family farms, which are assessed with the tax upon the death of the owner, threatening the existence of the business.

These measures will expire in 2010 unless the Congress acts making this relief permanent. Melissa supports making them permanent. Her opponent has supported measures that would require the repeal of these tax cuts. This would cost the average taxpayer roughly $2,000 every year. That would not only be bad policy, but also the largest tax increase in history.