If there's one thing that members of Congress love to pretend to be serious about, it's tax reform. They talk a lot about the importance of tax reform; they pledge to do such-and-such with regards to tax reform; they say tax reform is their "top priority." But, as we have seen, little action has been taken.
Until today! Speaker of the Hizzous John Boehner has taken decisive action. It may have been a symbolic, meaningless action, but it was an action nonetheless!
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has reserved a coveted legislative spot for tax reform — H.R. 1. The designation, confirmed by Boehner's office, sends a message the GOP will press ahead with a rewrite of the tax code despite concerns within the party. H.R. 1 is a slot the party that controls the House generally reserves for a signature issue."Reforming our tax code to get our economy going again and create jobs is a top priority for House Republicans,” said Michael Steel, a spokesman for Boehner.
That sounds promising, doesn't it? Of course, there are a few details that need ironed out:
The two parties also have yet to agree on fundamental issues like the size of government. For instance, the White House and congressional Democrats are pushing to rid the code of tax preferences to help ease deficits, while Republicans want to use those savings to lower tax rates. “I don’t know how you do tax reform if you don’t know how much money the government is going to collect,” said Clint Stretch, formerly of Deloitte Tax and the Joint Committee on Taxation.
Uhhh, okay. But still…Tax Reform is H.R. #1!
Boehner: Tax reform to be H.R. 1 [The Hill]
