Weekly Updates

A Window of Opportunity
By Rob Wittman
September 30, 2017

A window of opportunity is a small amount of time to meet a challenge where an otherwise unattainable solution exists. A time where what was once only imaginable becomes achievable; I believe that window is open now for tax reform.

This is an issue that members on both sides of the aisle can agree on: our tax code is a mess. It costs more and more each year just to do your taxes, let alone pay them. The tax code is too complicated and confusing; this needs to change. Right now, we have a real opportunity to provide relief to American families and businesses.

This week, we took an important first step to fulfilling this promise. Congressional leadership in conjunction with the Administration released a framework that sets the stage for creating a new tax system that is simple, fair, and creates jobs. We will achieve fiscally responsible tax reform by broadening the base, closing loopholes, and growing our economy.

The framework doubles the standard deduction which allows single filers to keep their first $12,000 in income untaxed, enhances the child tax credit to make sure we keep American families strong, repeals the death and alternative minimum tax, drastically lowers tax rates for Main Street job creators to create jobs in communities across the country, and lowers the corporate tax rate so that America can compete on a level playing field with the rest of the world.

Simple and fair tax filing will be critical for any successful plan. This framework puts in place a “postcard” tax filing where taxpayers would only have to fill out half a piece of paper to file their taxes. This is the kind of simplicity we need to encourage and empower Americans to file.

Once we pass a budget, the House and Senate tax writing committees will be hard at work on a bill that fills in this framework. No plan is perfect and I have made leadership aware of my issues with this current plan with the current ambiguity of rates for different types of businesses along with the necessity for lower net tax liability. I hope these, and other issues, can be resolved before final bill language makes its way to the House and Senate floors. I have full faith in our legislative process to generate a bill that will put more money back in the pockets of hard-working Americans.

My ultimate goal for this reform is to provide relief for small business owners and the middle-class, simplify the tax code, and promote economic growth. At the end of the day, Americans should be paying less in taxes than before, and I believe this blueprint sets up Congress to deliver a tax plan that supports middle-class families, protects jobs, and gives the American economy the boost it needs. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the coming months to make sure we do just that.

As I meet with the constituents of the First District, I constantly hear how we must reform our tax code. Well the opportunity is there, we must take advantage of this brief window before it shuts.