House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) held a meeting on Monday with business owners regarding America’s broken tax code.
The congressional leaders sat down with small business owners in Philadelphia to get a clearer picture of what challenges employers face when trying to comply with complex federal tax laws.
“Washington is a bit of a bubble,” Baucus and Camp said in a joint statement.”We believe it’s important to get out and meet with people one-on-one to hear their concerns. We want to know what people think about the nation’s tax system.”
Baucus and Camp visited a third generation, family-owned appliance business in Lawrenceville, N.J. From there, they traveled to The Hub Centers for Meeting and Collaboration in Philadelphia.
Camp and Baucus listened to taxpayers talk about confusing redundancies in the tax law. Baucus said that there are 31 different definitions of a “small business” in the tax code.
“There may be 31 definitions of a small business in the tax code, but the real definition is right here in Lawrenceville,” Baucus said. “It is defined by the hard work and dedication by the people here.”
Monday’s meetings were the second of a series of talks the Chairmen of Congress’ two tax-writing committees plan to hold in communities nationwide this summer as part of their outreach efforts on tax reform.
“The only thing people dread more than filling out tax forms is the fear that they’ll make a mistake and then be a target of an audit,” Camp said. Whether it’s for a small business … or for a family, filing taxes is expensive, time-consuming and confusing. We have an opportunity to change all that so that the tax code is fairer and easier to comply with – for families and businesses of all sizes.”