Pawlenty: Failure to pass tax revamp would be ‘abysmal failure’ for GOP
Financial Services Roundtable CEO Tim Pawlenty said Republicans would be responsible for “an abysmal failure” if they can’t pass a sweeping plan to cut tax rates and revamp deduction, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Pawlenty, the former Republican governor of Minnesota currently leading the powerful financial services lobbying firm, said the GOP risks blowing a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity to overhaul the tax code.
“You can’t be in charge as a party of both houses of Congress and the presidency and screw this up. Even this Congress can’t screw this up,” Pawlenty told the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday.
“You can’t run around the country for 10 years and say ‘If we ever get in control we will do this great tax reform,’ and then not get it done,” Pawlenty said. “We’ll head into the 2018 elections looking terrible.”
Republicans are pushing to pass the most transformative change to the tax code since 1986. GOP lawmakers are widely supportive of a broad framework released last month that cuts tax rates, consolidates brackets and scraps certain deductions and fees. But the party is still fleshing out the details of how to pay for the drop in federal revenue and internally debate how much impact the plan can and will have on the debt.
The GOP can afford few defections to pass any tax revamp effort with their narrow 52-seat Senate majority. Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who will retire in 2018 and is feuding with President Trump, said he would oppose any tax plan that isn’t permanent and would add to the deficit. And Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) criticized the framework, citing a report that found many middle class families could face tax hikes under the plan.
Pawlenty has declined interest in a 2018 gubernatorial run despite frequent recent speeches around Minnesota. A source close to Pawlenty told The Hill that he misses public service, noting that he isn’t sure if Pawlenty would run.
The Hill’s Megan R. Wilson contributed.
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