The chairman of the House tax committee declared Monday he is “turning the page” from health care to tax reform, saying Republicans and the White House are eager to deliver “better-than-Reagan” reforms in the months ahead despite the ugly fallout from the GOP’s failure to repeal and replace Obamacare.
Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, Texas Republican, said the Senate is free to lead the way on health care, after House leaders failed to rally their troops around a plan that can avoid a Democratic filibuster in the upper chamber.
The standoff forced President Trump and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan to yank the bill from the floor Friday.
“I’m encouraging them to step forward with their repeal and replacement plans, because these are their Senate rules that dictates how this goes forward,” Mr. Brady told reporters.
Mr. Brady and the White House are eager to pass massive tax cuts, even if the same forces that doomed the Obamacare effort — united opposition from Democrats and divided Republicans — could threaten the effort.
The plan is expected to call for lowering the corporate tax rate to 20 percent, down from 35 percent, and to cut taxes for the middle class and every income level.
The administration still hasn’t made a commitment on the House GOP’s border-adjustment tax proposal, which would tax imports and exempt exports, raising more than $1 trillion that could be used to offset tax cuts.
Mr. Brady, however, same the administration and House GOP conference would land on the same page.
“The Trump tax plan and House Republican plan started at 80 percent the same, I think it’s grown to 90 percent or better,” he said. “I think it’s critical for the White House and Republicans in Congress to agree on pro-growth tax reform together, and move forward together as well.”
Mr. Brady said he expects his panel to act on tax reform this spring, since his members have been working on the effort alongside health care since the start of the year.
Yet when the president gave up on the GOP bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, he also gave up nearly $1 trillion in tax cuts and commensurate spending cuts for Medicaid, measures that would lower the budget baseline and make it easier to cut tax rates without adding federal debt.
Mr. Brady said that “regrettably,” the Obamacare taxes will stick around until the health care law is repealed and replaced.
“None of this is easy. A big challenge just got a little bigger. It’s not insurmountable,” he said.
He isn’t sweating budgetary concerns linked to generous tax cuts, either, saying they can balance the ledger sheet by unlocking America’s economic engine.
“This doesn’t have to be a choice,” he said. “We can deliver the lowest tax rates on local businesses in modern history, we can simplify the code like no time in history … and still balance our budget with that economic growth.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.