Collins, who

represents Fayette, spoke after the House of Representatives passed the

conference report on the tax relief act early Saturday morning.

"This

legislation moves America in the right direction," Collins said.

The Georgia congressman, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee

which crafted the original tax relief package, said the bill is good legislation

even though it could use some improvement.

"I would

have designed some of the provisions differently," he said. "However,

the provisions in the bill will assist the taxpayers of this nation and

passage of this tax relief will be helpful to the economy. Overall it

is a fine piece of legislation.

"My colleagues

in the House and Senate have done a good job on this legislation, and

it is a good day for the American taxpayer and hard-working American families,"

Collins said.

He said the

bill cuts marginal rates, encourages savings by boosting allowable contributions

to individual retirement accounts, protects family businesses by phasing

out the estate tax, and lowers the tax penalty on married couples. The

bill also encourages savings for education by providing tax incentives

for education savings accounts.

The major components

of the conference agreement follow:

Marginal

rate reductions (similar to HR 3)

Lowers the

top tax rate from 39.6 percent to 35 percent, and lowers other tax rates

to create a new rate structure: 10 percent, 15 percent, 25 percent, 28

percent, 33 percent and 35 percent.

Creates new

10 percent rate effective Jan. 1, 2001, on first $6,000 (singles), on

first $10,000 (single parents), and first $12,000 (couples).

For 2001,

the benefit of the new 10 percent bracket is provided this year through

a lump-sum refund of $300 for single taxpayers, $500 for single parents,

and $600 for married taxpayers.

Repeals personal

exemption and itemized deductions phase-outs beginning in 2006.

Marriage

penalty repeal (similar to HR 6)

15 percent

bracket adjusted to twice that of singles.

Standard deduction

for married couples will be twice that of singles if phased-in over five

years beginning in 2005.

Child Tax

Credit expansion (similar to HR 6)

Doubles the

child credit from $500 to $1,000.

Increases

child credit to $600 (2001-2004), $700 (2005-2008), $800 (2009), $1,000

(2010), and makes refundable in part.

Estate tax

repeal (similar to HR 8)

Repeals the

estate tax in 2010.

Phases in

increase in the unified credit $1 million (2002-2003), $1.5 million (2004-2005),

$2 million (2006-2008), $3.5 million (2009).

Expands the

availability of the current law estate tax exclusion for conservation

easements.

Pension

and retirement savings (similar to HR 10)

Increases

IRA contributions from $2,000 to $5,000.

Increases

401(k) and other tax-deferred contribution limits from $10,500 to $15,000.

Deletes tax-free

IRA withdrawals for charitable purposes.

"Catch-up"

contributions for people age 50 and above.

Provides over

50 other improvements.

Education

incentives

Increases

education savings accounts from $500 to $2,000 and expands to K-12 public

and private education.

Above-the-line

deduction for qualified higher education expenses.

Allows tax-free

distributions from qualified tuition plans and permits private institutions

to offer such plans.

Makes permanent

employer-provided educational assistance exclusion and extends the benefit

of the exclusion to graduate level courses.

Adoption

tax credit (similar to HR 622)

Increases

the credit to $10,000 for special needs (currently $6,000) and non-special

needs children (currently $5,000).

Increases

the income phase-out range from current $75,000 to $150,000.

Alternative

Minimum Tax relief

Temporary

increase in exemption amount by $2,000 for single individuals and $4,000

for couples.

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