Orrin Hatch and Ron Wyden have launched bipartisan working groups to build support for tax reform amid dim expectations for a compromise on overhauling the outdated U.S. tax code.
Hatch, the Republican chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, announced Thursday with his Democratic counterpart Wyden that they have formed five bipartisan groups to address different issues of tax reform, each of which will report back with their findings.
“With the launch of these working groups, members will have an opportunity to thoroughly examine the code and put forward smart ideas that will help lay the groundwork for a bipartisan tax overhaul that will provide bigger paychecks, better jobs, and more opportunity for all Americans,” Utah’s Hatch said in a statement alongside the announcement.
Wyden, the chairman of the tax-writing committee last year before Republicans gained control of the Senate, said that a “lot of hard work has been done in recent years on tax reform creating a strong foundation to build upon. We now have a window of opportunity to make a run at modernizing our tax code and it’s time to come together and deliver.”
Efforts at tax reform failed in the last Congress after Hatch and Wyden’s predecessor Max Baucus sought input from other senators. That effort ultimately failed and Baucus left his Montana Senate seat to become the U.S. ambassador to China.
Rep. Dave Camp’s push in the House to promote tax reform also fell short. After introducing a discussion draft tax reform early in the year, the Michigan Republican received little support from other legislators amid a poor reception of the plan among businesses.
The Obama administration has suggested that there is little room for agreement between Democrats and Republicans on the matter of tax rates for individuals, although it has also tried to build momentum for a reform to the business side of the tax code.
The working group on individual taxes will be led by Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa; Mike Enzi, R-Wyo.; and Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich. The four other groups will cover business income taxation, savings and investment, international taxation, and community development and infrastructure.
Sherrod Brown, the Ohio Democrat working on the tax treatment of savings and investment, said that designing tax reform to increase opportunity for working families “means reducing their tax burden, increasing opportunities to save and increasing access to a well-designed retirement plan.” Brown also mentioned changing the taxation of income earned by hedged funds and addressing the taxation of securities.
The working groups will work with the Joint Committee on Taxation, which provides official estimates of the impact of tax legislation, to develop plans and then report back to Hatch and Wyden. No timeline was given for a final report.
