GOP Leaders tax statement provides few specific policy details, instead emphasizes principles reform should follow
By Kyle Pomerleau, Tax Foundation.
July 27- Today, Republican leadership from the House, Senate, and White House released a statement that outlined their principles for tax reform. The statement provided few specific policy details, but emphasized principles that reform should follow. Many of these principles, probably by design, reflect some of the proposals already outlined in both Trump’s tax proposal and the House GOP plan, which contain policies that would help improve the tax code.
The Three Broad Principles in the Statement
The statement outlined three broad principles or goals for tax reform:
- Simpler, fairer, and lower taxes for families,
- Reduced and reformed taxes for businesses, and
- Permanence
The principles reflect many of the policies that both the House GOP and the administration have included in previous plans. For instance, both the House GOP and administration plans have put forth policies to simplify the tax code. The House GOP’s plan, for example, would greatly increase the standard deduction and eliminate most itemized deductions. Both the administration and the House GOP also put forth ideas to reform the corporate income tax by reducing the statutory tax rate, broadening the base, and moving away from a worldwide tax system.