The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee said Friday he’s confident Congress will be able to pass tax reform this year. Addressing the Dallas CPA Society’s Convergence 2017 seminar, U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, said approving the first “comprehensive overall tax reform” plan in 30 years will be “the challenge of a generation.
“From a political standpoint, it’s incredibly difficult to do,” Brady told a luncheon crowd of 1,100 at the InterContinental Dallas hotel. And, “unless we have business leaders, tax leaders, community leaders, weighing in on tax reform, we won’t get [it] done. I’m confident we can deliver on it this year, but now is the time.”
Brady, who joined House Speaker Paul Ryan in crafting the GOP’s “Better Way” tax-reform plan, said the blueprint would help grow jobs and wages in part by lowering the corporate tax rate to 20 percent and cutting the small business rate. The plan also calls for moving to a territorial tax system and a so-called border adjustment feature that would “level the playing field” between made-in-American products and imports, he said.
In addition, the blueprint would consolidate the system from seven to three tax brackets, repeal the death tax, slash taxes on savings and investment, and restructure the Internal Revenue Service into three units, including one for businesses of all sizes. The current IRS approach to customer service, Brady said, “is not acceptable in your business—and it’s not acceptable in our agencies.”
Congress’ effort toward tax reform is scheduled to begin in earnest May 18 with a hearing before Brady’s Ways and Means Committee.
