U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) marked the tax filing deadline on Tuesday by highlighting needed reforms to the federal tax code.
Americans will log more than 8.9 billion hours working on their 2016 taxes, which equals approximately 4.3 million full-time workers doing nothing but tax preparation all year, according to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
“All of the time and money it takes to deal with today’s broken tax code is incredibly aggravating,” Brady, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, wrote in an op-ed appearing in the Houston Chronicle. “But the tolls of tax season that often weigh heaviest on Americans are the ones we cannot quantify. It’s the stress leading up to tax day, the abysmal service from the Internal Revenue Service, and the anxiety of knowing that one mistake in filing your taxes could mean significant IRS penalties.”
Brady said he would convene a series of committee hearings in the coming weeks focusing on efforts to overhaul the tax code, including the blueprint for pro-growth tax reform released by House Republicans.
“The House blueprint delivers a 21st century tax system that truly works for — not against — the American people,” Brady continued. “This plan will grow our economy, raise wages and make life easier for people in Texas and throughout America.”
The Tax Foundation estimates that over the next decade the proposal will help create more than 140,000 full-time jobs in Texas and put nearly $5,000 extra in the pockets of middle-income households.
The tax reform blueprint calls for closing special interest loopholes, lowering income tax rates for all Americans and flattening the tax code into three tax brackets. It also would lower tax rates for U.S. businesses.
Ryan, meanwhile, asked taxpayers to envision filing their taxes on a form the size of a postcard.
“For too long, we have had a tax code that no one really understands,” Ryan said. “Long and complicated forms are only part of the story. If you’re a family trying to pay for college tuition, you have to wade through more than a dozen different tax provisions and almost 100 pages of IRS instructions to figure it out. Even the word ‘married’ takes 218 words and five paragraphs to define.”
It’s no wonder, Ryan said, that many Americans pay someone else to do their taxes, adding that, “It shouldn’t be like that. Our tax code should work for us, not against us. And the same goes for the IRS.”
Portman, meanwhile, highlighted three proposals he introduced in the 114th Congress to tackle tax reform and stop IRS overreach: the Taxpayer Bill of Rights Act, the Prevent Targeting at the IRS Act and the Fair Treatment for All Donations Act.
“Now, more than ever, we need a pro-growth tax system that promotes simplicity, jobs and economic growth,” Portman said. “Washington needs to realize what Ohio families and businesses already know: our tax code is too complicated, too burdensome and decades out of date.”
Businesses, Portman noted, pay the highest tax rates in the industrialized world, putting them at a disadvantage with their foreign competitors.
“Our broken, outdated tax code hasn’t been reformed in more than 30 years. (Tax day) serves as an important reminder that if we want lasting economic growth and job creation, Congress must make tax reform our top priority,” he said.