Tax Committee Chairs Say Reform is On the Way

The chairs of the House Ways & Means and Senate Finance Committees - Congressman Camp and Senator Baucus, respectively, had an op ed in the April 7, 2013 Wall Street Journal titled - "Tax Reform Is Very Much Alive and Doable." They acknowledge that there are partisan differences that can cause problems, but still think it can be done in an open, transparent way with opportunity for the public to weigh in.

They also state they have agreed on "three fundamental principles to ensure that tax reform grows and expands the economy." These are:

1. Boost for America's families - they describe this as accomplished by simplification so "regular families" are not disadvantaged compared to "those who can afford high-price tax advisers." They want to keep the current progressive system and "close special-interest loopholes to help lower rates."
2. Level the playing field for US employers - improve international competitiveness.
3.  Parity for small businesses relative to larger businesses.

That all sounds good.  We'll have to see more details to know what it all means.  While Congressman Camp has provided some significant amount of details on international reform and changing how passthroughs might be taxed, we still need to see what the "loopholes" are that will be cut and how low the individual and corporate tax rates can go in a revenue neutral manner.

I also think it is doable. I think greater public awareness is needed on the over 200 special tax rules in the income tax and their effect relative to lower rates for all taxpayers. To better meet principles of good tax policy, we will need to have a simpler system with few special rules.  We'll see how doable that is.

What do you think?

Tax Committee Chairs Say Reform is On the Way 2013-04-09T09:13:00-07:00 Rating: 4.5 Diposkan Oleh: Unknown