Congressional Tax Panels Begin Discussions on Tax Reform in New Congress

On Tuesday, the House Ways and Means Committee conducted its first hearing under new Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.). The focus of the hearing was the macro view of the U.S. economy and the central tenets needed for sustained job creation, wages, and economic growth – policies under the jurisdiction of the committee needing reforms – taxes, international trade, and entitlement reforms.  During his remarks, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) highlighted the need to take advantage of low fuel prices to incrementally increase the federal tax on gasoline. Later this month, Republican members of the panel are expected to huddle for a policy retreat to allow members input for the committee’s 2015 agenda and indoctrinate the new members of the committee. In related news, Chairman Ryan announced he would not seek a White House bid in 2016; instead, he will focus his energy on managing the tax panel and forwarding GOP solutions from that position. Also this week, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) announced the creation of five tax working groups “to spur congressional comprehensive tax reform efforts in the 114th Congress.” The five groups “will analyze current tax law and examine policy trade-offs and available reform options within the group’s designated topic areas,” work directly with the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation staff to produce “in-depth analysis of options and potential legislative solutions within its assigned area.” This dynamic is similar to the approach of the House Ways & Means Committee took in the last Congress to produce a discussion draft on comprehensive reform of the tax code. For more information, please contact Brian Lenihan at (202) 547-4733 or lenihanb@agc.org.