You could say Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) is “starting from scratch with Hatch.”
The Wall Street Journal has this:
Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D., Mont.) and the committee’s ranking Republican, Orrin Hatch of Utah, are expected to outline next steps in a “dear-colleague” letter to fellow senators. The letter is expected to invite other lawmakers to identify and defend tax breaks they want to retain in a future tax system, effectively proposing to start from scratch on the tax breaks that have proliferated in the tax code in recent years.
From Politico:
Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, the panel’s top Republican, are preparing to release a tax reform framework on Thursday that essentially starts from a clean slate, according to more than a half-dozen lobbyists familiar with the discussion. That means eliminating virtually all existing deductions, credits and expenditures to dramatically lower corporate and individual tax rates.
Such a strategy is sure to encounter opposition from members of both parties who would rather cut tax breaks they don’t like rather than defend provisions they support.
Comments
mel in Whitehall
Thursday, June 27, 2013 12:42 PM
This seems “on the surface” to harken back to the idea of a few years ago…ZERO BUDGETING…where EVERY department and agency of the Fed Govt would be forced to JUSTIFY every dollar in their budget for the next 2-yr period vs the last..ie, what is working, and WHAT IS NOT WORKING… They hated even the mention of such, since it meant that they couldn’t shovel funds around behind the view of US, the people.
However, With Max involved, I will reserve judgment until the final – AMMENDED version hits the street!… Things always have a way of being/getting TWISTED by this guy and his lock step buddy Jon!
virgil
Thursday, June 27, 2013 2:20 PM
No one denies that the tax codes need to be up-dated. It’s like driving around in a 1917 Ford Model T. Antiquated now but good at it’s conception.
I would like to see all the “loop holes” closed…tightly, permanently. Seems that hiring a lawyer on a $100,000 yearly retainer to beat the government out of $110,000 is ludicrous. Just pay what you owe and be done with it.
Otis Mule
Sunday, June 30, 2013 10:11 AM
And so goes the effort to pretend to change that which they cannot afford to change. Political favors for deductions, credits, and exemptions. Keeping the K street lobbyists happy with actual favors, and mollifying the voters with sound bites and sleight of hand parliamentary tricks. There is no real desire the Rube Goldberg tax system with anything other than another Rube Goldberg tax system. So very sad at what has become of our once great country.