House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Tex., touted the House GOP “Better Way” tax reform Blueprint on February 3 at the International Tax Policy Forum (ITPF) and Georgetown Law’s Institute of International Economic Law (IIEL) Conference on tax competition in Washington, D.C. Brady delivered the event’s keynote address focusing on the House’s “pro-growth” tax reform proposal.
According to Brady, the Blueprint will provide “the lowest tax rates in modern history for American businesses of all sizes.” He added, “We’re proposing a corporate rate of 20 percent…and for small businesses…a top rate of no more than 25 percent.” President Trump has previously proposed one business tax rate of 15 percent.
“This reduction in rates for pass-throughs is really historic. [W]e decided that, for the first time in history, we would finally separate wage income from small business income,” Brady said. Additionally, the Blueprint proposes allowing all businesses to immediately write-off the costs of new capital investments, he noted. “We are going to eliminate every tax incentive to move those jobs, research and manufacturing overseas.”
Brady also addressed Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin G. Hatch’s, R-Utah, announcement two days earlier that the Senate is drafting its own tax reform legislation. According to Brady, the Blueprint incorporated the tax reform ideas of over 50 lawmakers, including 23 senators. The Senate and House share the same goals and many of the same solutions, Brady said.
Democrats, although in agreement the tax code is in need of reform, have remained critical of Republicans’ proposed solutions as appearing to focus on tax cuts for the wealthy. “They (Republicans) are for trickle-down economics…give tax breaks to the wealthy, it trickles down and if somebody gets a job, that’s great, if they don’t, so be it,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a town hall discussion on February 1. “You don’t receive economic security by tossing the rich even more tax breaks,” she added.