House Ways and Means Committee Member Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) recently wrote an op-ed encouraging both Congress and President Barack Obama to begin work on passing a comprehensive tax reform package.
The annual cost of U.S. tax code compliance to individuals and businesses is $168 billion, a figure Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) said is unfair and punitive.
The tax code is becoming so complicated, with more than one new rule a day for the past decade, that even the Internal Revenue Service is struggling to keep up with it, according to Buchanan.
A recent report by the National Taxpayer Advocate showed that the IRS accumulated a backlog of at least one million items of taxpayer correspondence last year.
“In walking Main Street and visiting with countless families and small business owners, I’ve witnessed firsthand the devastation a broken tax code can inflict,” Buchanan said in the op-ed. “In the coming months, Congress has not only an opportunity but a responsibility to help ease this burden. It’s going to take both parties working together to get the job done for the American people.”
The Ways and Means Committee has held 30 public hearings and roundtables throughout the past two years with groups who are affected by the current tax code.
“From these discussions, the common refrain is that America needs a simpler, fairer, pro-growth tax code to help revitalize a sluggish economy,” Buchanan said.