Business leaders to testify at House panel’s tax reform hearing

Several business leaders are slated to testify at the House Ways and Means Committee’s tax-reform hearing on Thursday, the committee announced Wednesday.

The hearing, the first in a series that the panel plans to hold, will focus on how tax reform can affect the economy and jobs.

Witnesses will include AT&T Senior Executive Vice President John Stephens, Atlas Tool Works Chief Alignment Officer Zachary Mottl, Emerson Electric CEO David Farr, S&P Global President Douglas Peterson and Willett Advisors Chairman Steven Rattner.

Peterson is one of 16 CEOs in the American Made Coalition that signed a letter in February in support of House Republicans’ tax-reform blueprint and its border-adjustment tax provision to tax imports and exempt exports.

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The border-adjustment proposal, which has divided GOP lawmakers and the business community, will be a key focus in another hearing that the Ways and Means Committee plans to hold next week.

Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) highlighted Thursday’s hearing during the House GOP leadership press briefing on Wednesday.

“If we’re serious about letting Americans keep more of their paychecks, if we’re serious about bringing jobs back home, bringing manufacturing back home, then we have got to reform this tax system and seize this moment,” Ryan said.

Brady said “it’s time for tax reform that creates more than 1 million new jobs and helps Americans keep more of their hard-earned money.”