BURNSIDE - U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley said Friday that he'll be trying to prevent a record-setting income tax hike when the Senate goes back to work next month.
The Republican, who is Iowa's senior senator, said tax cuts enacted in 2001 will expire on Dec. 31 if Congress and President Barack Obama don't take action.
If that happens, he said, Americans will face ''the biggest tax increase in the history of the country without a vote of the people.''
During a stop in Burnside, Grassley talked about the issues Congress will confront when it returns to the Capitol in September. He began his visit to Southeast Webster-Grand Junior and Senior High School by talking to students in government and world studies classes. The senator said he tries to visit about a dozen Iowa high schools every year.
His visit Friday occurred about three months before the November election in which he's seeking his sixth term. He faces a challenge from Democrat Roxanne Conlin.
After answering questions from the students, Grassley discussed the congressional agenda for the rest of the year. He described taxes as a ''big item'' on that agenda.
As chairman of the Senate Finance Committee in 2001, he helped to move the tax cuts proposed by President George W. Bush through Congress. But those cuts had an expiration date attached to them.
According to Grassley, if the tax cuts expire a family of four faces an average tax hike of $2,155.
He added that the looming tax hike would be very detrimental to small businesses.
The senator said he believes there's a chance to extend the tax cuts, but he added that it appears likely that Congress won't take action until after the Nov. 2 election.
Grassley said he plans to tackle two other tax issues this year. He wants to reinstate a tax break on biodiesel that expired at the end of 2009. He said 23,000 people in 44 states are unemployed because that tax break no longer exists.
He said he and Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., wrote a bill to restore the tax break. He said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., at first refused to bring the bill up for debate. Then when he did try to bring it up, he added $124 billion in spending to it, according to Grassley.
''He can use it as a locomotive to get a lot of things done that are more controversial,'' Grassley said.
Grassley said there is no controversy about the biodiesel tax credit itself.
Biodiesel isn't the only renewable fuel with a tax issue this year. The federal tax break on ethanol is set to expire on Dec. 31. Grassley said getting that tax credit restored may be a tough chore because of the mistaken belief that ethanol production contributed to an increase in food prices.
''There is a campaign being waged now against ethanol,'' he said.
He said 115,000 people in the ethanol industry will lose their jobs if the tax credit expires.
Contact Bill Shea at (515) 573-2141 or bshea@messengernews.net