Name: Barbara Angus
Home town: Buffalo, N.Y.
Position: Chief tax counsel for the House Ways and Means Committee
Age: 56
Alma mater: Dartmouth College, Harvard Law School, University of Chicago Graduate School of Business
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Washington Examiner: What made you decide to leave the private sector and join the committee?
Barbara Angus: Tax reform. I joined two years ago this month. It was when Rep. Kevin Brady [R-Texas] became chairman and I had the opportunity to have a discussion. It was not something I had been thinking about. I feel like I have been talking about tax reform for my entire career and thinking about tax reform. As I looked at the fact that I could have an opportunity to be a part of tax reform, I knew in an instant that if I didn’t seize that opportunity, I would regret it.
Washington Examiner: What in your previous career, which included stints at private law firms in Washington and Chicago, helped prep you for this massive undertaking?
Angus: My background is a mix of working as a tax lawyer in the private sector, so working with companies and taxpayers. I had a couple of stints with the government early in my career. I had the opportunity to spend a few years on the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation in the mid-90s. A few years after that, I had an opportunity to be in the Treasury Department and doing international tax. The JCT is such an important part of the dialogue that we have about tax reform. They play such an important role in terms of all the economic work they do and the technical support they provide.
Washington Examiner: It seemed like tax reform passed in a whirlwind few months last year. What was the process to develop it like?
Angus: I can see how people think about it as a whirlwind since it moved quickly from the time of introduction, but there was so much time beforehand. I like to think I started thinking about tax reform from working with the chairman from the first day. The committee members were working on the blueprint. All of that laid the groundwork for being able to go into the legislative process. For me, as the bill moved through the committee and through the conference, one thing that I found really fascinating was the focus not just of our members but all of the members of our conference.
Washington Examiner: You got the white whale by tax reform. What do you see as the next step?
Angus: As Chairman Brady said often, you don’t want to wait another 31 years. To this point, tax reform was a once-in-a-generational occurrence. That always resonated with me because I took my last tax class in law school as the 1986 act was moving through Congress. I think the [committee] members believe that we shouldn’t wait another 31 years. Now that we have a modern and competitive international tax code, Congress and the administration should focus on keeping up. It is easier to make the adjustments as it goes along rather than wait 31 years.
Washington Examiner: I understand you have a comedic past?
Angus: When I was in Chicago, I was part of an all-lawyer comedy troupe. We were called the Public Offenders. We did sketch comedy and songs about legal topics and other topics of current interest. I will say I was the only tax lawyer in the troupe. It was mostly litigators. One thing I definitely learned from being in that comedy troupe is the two-drink minimum is a valuable thing. You want your audience to be receptive.
