REED VOTES FOR SIMPLER, FAIRER TAX CODE ACT; Congressman is a co-sponsor of bill to begin reform of 70,000 page tax code

Aug 2, 2012 Issues: Tax Reform

 The Pathway to Job Creation through a Simpler, Fairer Tax Code Act of 2012, which requires Congress to begin the process of reforming and streamlining the tax code, passed the House late this afternoon.  “The 70,000 burdensome pages of the code hurt American businesses and families,” declared Congressman Tom Reed.  “It has been more than 25 years since the last major rewrite and it is beyond time for us to begin a comprehensive reform.”

Reed, a co-sponsor of the Act, has called for streamlining and simplification of the tax code for more than two years. “Tax reform is a jobs issue,” he observed. “Washington picks winners and losers through the tax code. This is especially expensive and unfair to small businesses, which create the majority of new jobs and career opportunities.” 

“We have to begin the debate on how to change our outdated tax code,” Reed said. “We have to do this in a transparent, honest fashion rather than behind closed doors. Today’s legislation starts the public conversation and I hope the Senate takes this up so we can begin the job hardworking taxpayers expect and demand that we do.”

The Act establishes a framework for comprehensive tax reform. As a starting point, it proposes consolidating the current six individual income tax brackets into just two brackets of 10 and 25 percent and repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax, which currently threatens 31 million middle-class families with higher taxes.  It also calls for reducing the corporate rate, currently the highest corporate rate in the industrialized world, to a more competitive 25 percent.  In addition, it proposes moving the United States from a “worldwide” to a “territorial” tax system that puts American companies and their workers on a level playing field with foreign competitors to encourage investment and hiring here at home.

Since 2001, there have been nearly 4,500 changes made to the tax code, averaging more than one each day over the past decade.

 

#####