Hatch: Let’s Work Together on Tax Reform

Reuters: “Democrats in the Senate view Senator Hatch as a lawmaker who is sincere about bipartisanship, who actually wants to get a bill that Democrats and Republicans can support.”

Following a recent joint statement by the tax principals in the Senate, House and administration that highlighted the importance of overhauling our nation’s tax code, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) this week reiterated to Reuters the importance of working through each of the tax-writing committees – in a bipartisan way – to craft legislation that will grow the economy, create and retain jobs, and raise wages for American individuals and families across the country.

             

Reuters noted, “Democrats in the Senate view Senator Hatch as a lawmaker who is sincere about bipartisanship, who actually wants to get a bill that Democrats and Republicans can support.”

Many in Congress have indicated that tax reform will be taken up through reconciliation, but that doesn’t preclude a bipartisan reform effort. In fact, tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 were bipartisan and done through reconciliation. Members of the Senate Finance Committee participated in bipartisan work on hearings, roundtables, discussions, option papers, and discussion drafts in health and tax reform efforts in 2009 and 2013 while reconciliation instructions were in place.

This fall, Chairman Hatch will convene tax reform hearings in the Senate Finance Committee. While many are focused on the process of how the tax bill will move through the Senate, Chairman Hatch believes the process shouldn’t dictate the substance. The substance of tax reform – something most Republicans and Democrats agree on – should be to increase wages and economic growth, simplify the tax code, provide middle-class tax relief and improve opportunities for American businesses, large and small, to compete.

Click here to watch Chairman Hatch’s interview with Reuters.

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