Reforming the Tax Code

Statement

Dear Friends,

With much of the country struggling to meet the Tax Day deadline this past week, the burden of our madly complex federal tax code rests freshly on the minds of millions taxpayers.

At over 70,000 pages, the federal tax code is simply unnavigable and has created an environment where 94 percent of returns are filed with some kind of assistance, and compliance costs for all returns are estimated at almost $234 billion.

When you add together the burden of compliance on small businesses and families, the fact that the United States has the highest corporate tax rate in the world, and has one of the highest tax rates on long-term investment, the imperative of tax reform is clear: it is no longer an aspiration--it is a necessity for our successful economic policy.

One of the main priorities of this Congress is working toward a tax code that is simpler, fairer, and flatter that promotes job creation, economic growth, and competition.

Numerous tax reform proposals, including the consumption-based fair tax and variety of flat tax proposals, have been circulating around the Capitol, and the House Ways and Means Committee, under Chairman Paul Ryan, is working to create a simpler and fairer system that creates jobs and opportunities in our economy.

With the recent overwhelming bipartisan success in repealing Medicare's flawed sustainable growth rate to reform and preserve Medicare, there is great optimism that we can work together to overhaul our broken tax code.

Sincerely,

Source