House Republicans Fear Tax Reform Scrutiny, Doggett Says

GOP “Better Way” Tax Plan is “Wrong Way”

June 20, 2017

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), Ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Tax Policy Subcommittee, reacts to Speaker Ryan’s address on Republican tax plans:

“Since their rollout a year ago of this campaign gimmick, Republicans have been afraid to expose their Blueprint to scrutiny. What they now call ‘full speed ahead’ did not produce a public hearing for 11 months to even begin evaluating its many shortcomings. Without their misbegotten border adjustment tax, now abandoned by the Trump Administration, their Blueprint has a $1 trillion deficit gap and an even greater credibility gap. Apparently they have yet to decide whether to largely pursue the same approach of denying public participation — forcing through this tax bill as they did in getting partisan support for their still uncompleted, initial special interest health tax break bill.

“The Republican Blueprint is certainly a ‘better way’ to widen the income gap while exploding the national debt. It is both the wrong way for tax policy and the wrong way to legislate tax reform. Because Republicans view Trump as their golden ticket to enacting more prized tax breaks, their lips remain sealed regarding his dangerous, mercurial bumbling, conflicts of interest, tax returns cover-up, and apparent obstruction of justice.”

Rep. Doggett previously offered a “privileged resolution” that would require the House of Representatives to immediately request and evaluate the President’s personal and business tax returns prior to consideration of tax legislation. That motion will be considered tomorrow.

A letter concerning the failure of the Tax Policy Subcommittee to even hold an organizational meeting this year as well as the tax reform topics which it should be addressing, is attached.

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 June 7, 2017

The Honorable Kevin Brady
Chairman
Committee on Ways and Means
1011 Longworth HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515

The Honorable Peter Roskam
Chairman
Committee on Ways and Means Tax Policy
Subcommittee
2246 Rayburn HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Chairman Brady and Chairman Roskam:

With more than five months of the 115th Congress completed and one year after the announcement of the Republican self-styled 'Better Way' tax Blueprint, the Tax Policy Subcommittee has yet to hold a single meeting. In fact, the Subcommittee has not even held its initial organizational meeting. The two tax-related hearings finally held last month before the full Committee indicate that much work remains and the Subcommittee could contribute significantly to the Full Committee’s efforts. Additionally, now that the Trump Administration has indicated it will not unveil its tax proposal until September, the Subcommittee has time to explore these important issues.

Hopefully, we will not have a repeat of the Congress’ consideration of health care legislation, rushed through the House without hearings and without any expert witness or Administration official willing to justify it, nor any CBO score to evaluate the bill’s cost and impact. It will be critical to our Committee’s consideration of tax legislation to have hearings on the impacts and related costs well in advance of any Committee markup.

I respectfully urge you to conduct a series of hearings examining the impact on the middle class of the many significant tax changes proposed in the Blueprint. As our colleague Congressman John Lewis has urged, such hearings should involve witnesses more representative of our country, and Democrats should be permitted to call more than one witness per hearing.

Topics that should be considered in these hearings include:

• Evaluating historical evidence of whether tax cuts pay for themselves through economic growth

• Impact of tax code changes on the widening income inequality gap

• How a pass-through tax rate lower than the top individual rate could be exploited for tax avoidance

• Lessons from the 2004 repatriation tax holiday

• The economic impact of the Bush and Reagan tax cuts

• The economic impact of lowering the tax rate on capital gains

• The impact of repealing the interest deduction versus immediate expensing on different sectors of our economy

• Identifying and evaluating each specific revenue raiser necessary to replace the more than $1 trillion loss from the Trump abandonment of the border adjustment tax

• How President Trump would personally benefit from proposed tax changes

• Comparison of the current Republican Blueprint with the previous Republican Camp tax reform proposal

Investigating these issues should help in designing tax reform that genuinely encourages job creation in the U.S., lifts the middle class, closes loopholes for special interests that create an uneven playing field, and avoids more public debt and income inequality. Tax reform should be a deliberative and bipartisan process with time to hear from expert witnesses on the many far-reaching proposals included in the “Better Way” Blueprint. I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,
Lloyd Doggett