GOP planning to release tax framework next month: reports

The White House and congressional GOP leaders are planning to release a tax reform framework document in September, according to multiple news reports.

The document would not be released alongside legislation, but it would outline areas where the White House and congressional Republicans have common ground and may also describe suggestions from Democrats, according to a Reuters report.

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The document would provide more details than the five-paragraph tax statement that key players known as the “Big Six” released late last month, according to reports from both Reuters and Bloomberg.

The Reuters report, which cited three sources familiar with the matter, said the framework document would be three to five pages, while the Bloomberg report, which cited a White House official, said a final length hasn’t been determined.

A White House spokeswoman declined to comment to The Hill on internal deliberations.

Republicans have made tax-reform legislation one of their top priorities and want to lower rates for individuals and businesses while eliminating tax breaks. But the timing for introducing legislation or consideration by Congress is not set.

The “Big Six” — House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, White House economic adviser Gary Cohn, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) — said they expected the tax-writing committees to produce legislation that the panels would likely consider in the fall.

White House Legislative Affairs Director Marc Short said last week that he expected the House would vote on a bill in October and the Senate would vote on a bill in November.

But McConnell said earlier this week that he doesn’t want to set an artificial deadline for when tax-reform legislation will be enacted.