Republicans Are Optimistic About Tax Reform. But It Could Face the Same Trouble as Health Care

Republican lawmakers gathered with excitement on Wednesday to introduce their proposal for what they described as the most sweeping federal tax reform proposal in decades. Just a day after the latest failure on their promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the change of topic was welcomed, and the members gathered in the Rayburn Room were optimistic about the new proposal. “I like the energy in the room,” said Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio. “This is a really exciting opportunity… It gets the economy moving and will generate more income, more wages. It’s more jobs, it’s better jobs.” Endorsed by President Trump in Indiana on Wednesday, the plan is being billed as a drastic simplification of the federal tax system, one that is “built for growth” and “puts America first,” with an emphasis on helping the middle class. But like the healthcare fight before it, the proposal came with a number of unanswered questions that could frustrate lawmakers’ goals. The blueprint, titled “United Framework for Fixing Our Broken Tax Code,” runs at just nine pages — eight if you subtract the title page — and deals mostly in broad strokes. And the specifics that are there have already engendered skepticism among Democrats and nonpartisan tax experts. To take one example: the framework calls for reducing the number of income tax brackets from its current seven down to three, taxed at 12%, 25% an...
Source: TIME.com: Top Science and Health Stories - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Congress Donald Trump Paul Ryan Tax Reform Source Type: news