Republican chairman: Our tax reform plan fits with Trump’s vision

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) said on Friday that he thinks Donald Trump will find that the new tax-reform blueprint from House Republicans aligns with the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s vision for the country.

“We think our presidential nominee strongly supports pro-growth tax reform, strongly supports a simplified tax code. We just believe we don’t have to settle for a second-rate economy that we have today,” Brady told reporters.

{mosads}”And I’m hopeful as he looks at the policy blueprint we’re laying out, that it fits with where he wants to take this country, which is a stronger, more pro-American tax code, with all the growth that goes with that,” he added.

The House Republican plan, unveiled Friday, would lower the top individual tax rate to 33 percent, the top rate on income from pass-through businesses to 25 percent and the top corporate rate to 20 percent. It would shift the U.S. toward a consumption-based approach to taxation and would overhaul the IRS.

Trump’s tax plan, released in September, would also lower rates but would reduce them even further than under the House GOP plan. Trump would cut the top rate for individuals to 25 percent and the top rate for corporations and pass-through businesses to 15 percent. His plan would not move the U.S. in the direction of a consumption-based system.

Brady said lawmakers are interested in feedback on the proposal from the public. The committee will invite formal comments from individuals and businesses, and GOP committee members will ask people in their district if this is the tax code they want or if would they prefer the status quo.

“As we do that listening, we’ll be preparing for tax legislation in 2017,” he said.

The tax plan was the last of six policy papers that House Republicans released this month under their “Better Way” election-year agenda.

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Friday that House Republicans decided to lay out their agenda because they think the country is heading in the wrong direction and have a “moral duty and an obligation” to offer an alternative.

Many Americans have concerns because of an increasingly fast-moving global economy, and “with this plan, once again, America will take the lead,” Ryan said.

Business groups were mixed about the tax-reform blueprint.

Bruce Josten, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s executive vice president for government affairs, said that the group has concerns about some parts of the proposal and has to study others further. 

“The proposal outlined includes the essentials of a comprehensive tax reform proposal, including for example substantial corporate and pass-thru business rate reduction, expensing of business investment, and moving to a territorial tax system,” Josten said in a statement.

Mark Weinberger, chair of the Business Roundtable tax and fiscal policy committee, said “the blueprint contains tax changes that will dramatically improve the U.S. investment environment for both domestic and foreign businesses, creating jobs, kick starting capital expenditures and leading to economic growth.”

The National Retail Federation praised the plan’s lower corporate tax rate but had concerns about the shift toward taxing consumption.

“Higher taxes on consumption would harm middle-class Americans through lower real wages and higher consumer prices,” David French, the NRF’s senior vice president for government affairs, said. “Clearly a 20 percent tax on the wide range of consumer goods that are imported into the United States would put increased economic pressure on families who can least afford it.”

Democrats criticized the plan.

“Any serious, bipartisan reform effort must help all hard working Americans get ahead,” said Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee. “The House GOP’s framework goes in the opposite direction, allowing the privileged few to push what they rightfully owe onto the backs of middle class families.”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the proposal amounts to “massive tax giveaways to millionaires and billionaires.”

“Republicans’ Wrong Way tax agenda would ransack our investments in jobs, infrastructure, education and the future of our nation. It would explode the deficit and undermine our efforts to build an economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy and well connected.”