Tax Reform: Ending America’s ‘Competitive Disadvantage’

Allowing Job Creators ‘To Reinvest, Expand, Create New Jobs, And Increase Wages’ ‘That Means Real Benefits For Middle Income Families’
‘The Key Here Is To Incentivize New Investment, To Increase Productivity, Which Ultimately Makes Everyone Better Off In The Long Run’
SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN ORRIN HATCH (R-UT): “Our chief goals, particularly in business tax reform, are to increase economic growth, create new jobs, grow wages for the employees of both large and small businesses, expand opportunities for all Americans, and improve standards of living for everyone in the United States.” (U.S. Senate Finance Committee, Press Release, 9/19/2017)

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): “If we can streamline and modernize our outdated tax code on the business side, it will enable corporations and pass through businesses, both small and large, to reinvest, expand, create new jobs, and increase wages. And that means real benefits for middle income families in South Dakota and across the country through the businesses that employ them.” (U.S. Senate Finance Committee Hearing, 9/19/2017)

SEN. DEAN HELLER (R-NV): “For too long, Nevada’s and America’s small businesses and companies have been at a competitive disadvantage due to our outdated and unfair tax code…. Our current tax code distorts the marketplace, drags down the economy, and prevents American job creators from staying and hiring back home.” (U.S. Senate Finance Committee Hearing, 9/19/2017)

TAX FOUNDATION PRESIDENT SCOTT HODGE: “What we want to do is have policies that lift wages, lift productivity, and ultimately lift after-tax incomes—real living standards. And the kind of tax reform that we’ve outlined here, with a lower corporate tax rate and full expensing will do that. And I think that’s the strongest approach to making people better off.” (U.S. Senate Finance Committee Hearing, 9/19/2017)

Saving Small Businesses Time And Money By Simplifying The Tax Code
SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC): “I was a small business owner for about 15 to 16 years and … [a]nother important factor is the complexity of the [tax] code and the amount of time small business owners spend preparing for the dreaded [tax] season [deadlines] …” (U.S. Senate Finance Committee Hearing, 9/19/2017)

SEN. CLAIRE McCASKILL (D-MO): “It is unbelievable how complicated it is for small businesses because there’s not a consistency within the [tax] code … I can’t imagine the productivity that is lost in terms of tax decisions that are being made just because of that added layer of complexity.” (U.S. Senate Finance Committee Hearing, 9/19/2017)

SCOTT HODGE: “Americans spend close to 9 billion hours complying with the U.S. tax system. The corporate part of that code is the most complex and the most costly. Things like the depreciation schedules … cost U.S. businesses about $23 billion a year in compliance costs. This is money that is not only drained from businesses, but it’s time taken away from entrepreneurs…. This is wasted energy, wasted time, wasted resources that go to complying with the IRS rather than trying to build a business.” (U.S. Senate Finance Committee Hearing, 9/19/2017)

TROY LEWIS, Past Chair, Tax Executive Committee, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants: “… [the tax code] sure could be less complex. So anything that you can do along those lines to make it less complex would benefit all businesses in our country.” (U.S. Senate Finance Committee Hearing, 9/19/2017)

‘There Needs To Be A Reduction’ In The Corporate Tax Rate, ‘We’re Not Competitive With The Rest Of The World’
SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R-UT): “Members of both parties recognize the need to reform the way we tax businesses in the United States. As former President Obama noted when discussing his own framework for business tax reform, the current system ‘does too little to encourage job creation and investment in the United States while allowing firms to benefit from incentives to locate production and shift profits overseas.’” (U.S. Senate Finance Committee, Press Release, 9/19/2017)

SEN. PAT ROBERTS (R-KS): “I would prefer to see us do the big things … lower the corporate rate, we have to do that … and then also go from 7 to 3 in the [number of tax] brackets—aim at the middle class, fix AMT …” (U.S. Senate Finance Committee Hearing, 9/19/2017)

SEN. TOM CARPER (D-DE): “Let me say I’m all for reducing the corporate tax rate. We’re not competitive with the rest of the world. There needs to be a reduction.” (U.S. Senate Finance Committee Hearing, 9/19/2017)

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): “… I will acknowledge as well that United States’ corporate [tax] rates are some of the highest in the world.” (U.S. Senate Finance Committee Hearing, 9/19/2017)

DR. DONALD MARRON, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center: “… I would say that the consensus you see from the CBOs and JCTs and Office of Tax Analysis … is that clearly workers pay some of the corporate income tax. That one unfortunate side effect of the corporate income tax is to discourage investment in the United States — workers have less capital to work with, they’re less productive, wages are lower.” (U.S. Senate Finance Committee Hearing, 9/19/2017)

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