Here is your daily round-up of news and analysis to keep you informed as tax reform works its way through Congress.
In the news
Wall Street Journal. Adam O’Neal: "What Will Tax Reform Do for Puppies?"
The Canine Tax Credit would do more than pad the bank accounts of dog owners. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says having a pet can help decrease blood pressure, cholesterol and feelings of loneliness. Perhaps the Congressional Budget Office could work lowered medical costs into its score?
If the Canine Tax Credit passes, loyal voters could finally point to a material benefit provided by the GOP. There’s only one problem: Democrats, always eager to one-up Republican giveaways, could counter with a Feline Tax Credit. Maybe they’d include ferrets too, Rudy Giuliani be damned. Democrats could even target the millions of families with turtles, rabbits, horses, lizards and tarantulas.
It’s almost as if it’d be easier just to eliminate all the exemptions and credits and cut tax rates accordingly.
Wall Street Journal: “Reducing Corporate Tax Games”
We report all this because you’d think from the press coverage that corporate tax reform is all about enriching a few CEOs. The truth is that it’s a serious attempt to fix a broken U.S. code that has festered for years and made America increasingly uncompetitive as a destination for mobile global capital. The GOP reforms would help the economy and make it harder for corporations to avoid paying taxes.
Washington Times. Stephen Moore: “Republicans showing backbone on tax reform”
Republicans have long been known as “the stupid party.” They do stupid things, like waiting until mid-November to pass a must-pass tax cut that should have been done by April.
But in recent weeks the GOP is finally showing some brains and some backbone on taxes. They are using their majorities in Congress to roll back and roll over the left, and it’s about time.
From the U.S. Chamber
J.D. Foster: “Concerns over Passthrough Taxation are Understandable but Misplaced”
Tax reform should be profoundly pro-growth. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act legislation recently passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate Finance Committee bill each meet that test. Being pro-growth means the legislation should reduce tax rates and otherwise advance reforms strengthening all kinds of businesses comparably across all industry sectors.
Some members of Congress have expressed concerns passthrough businesses are not given a fair shake in the current tax reform bills. These concerns ought to be taken seriously. However, careful consideration of both bills reveals the concerns to be misplaced. Both the House bill and the Senate bill in its current form are very positive for passthrough businesses and are highly comparable in their benefits between business forms, which not coincidentally explains why the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and nearly all major small business advocacy groups support both bills.
Tell Congress: The time for tax reform is now.
