CONGRESSMAN DAVE CAMP ON TAX REFORM ACT OF 2014

FROM:  CONGRESSMAN DAVE CAMP WEBSITE 
Camp Releases Tax Reform Plan to Strengthen the Economy 
and Make the Tax Code Simpler, Fairer and Flatter

Recently, Congressman Dave Camp (R-Midland) released draft legislation to fix America’s broken tax code by lowering tax rates while making the code simpler and fairer for families and job creators.  Camp’s latest draft, the “Tax Reform Act of 2014,” spurs stronger economic growth, greater job creation and puts more money in the pockets of hardworking taxpayers.

Based on analysis by the independent, non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), without increasing the budget deficit, the Tax Reform Act of 2014:

Creates up to 1.8 million new private sector jobs.
Allows roughly 95 percent of filers to get the lowest possible tax rate by simply claiming the standard deduction (no more need to itemize and track receipts).
Strengthens the economy and increases Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by up to $3.4 trillion (the equivalent of 20 percent of today’s economy).

Based on calculations using data provided by JCT, the average middle-class family of four could have an extra $1,300 per year in its pocket from the combination of lower tax rates in the plan and higher wages due to a stronger economy.

Discussing the need to fix America’s broken tax code, Camp said, “It is no secret that Americans are struggling.  Far too many families haven’t seen a pay raise in years.  Many have lost hope and stopped looking for a job.  And too many kids coming out of college are buried under a mountain of debt and have few prospects for a good-paying career.  We’ve already lost a decade, and before we lose a generation, Washington needs to wake up to this reality and start offering concrete solutions and debating real policies that strengthen the economy and help hardworking taxpayers.  Tax reform is one way we can do that.”

NEW WEBSITE LAUNCHED FOR AMERICAN PEOPLE TO SUGGEST TAX REFORM IDEAS

FROM: CONGRESSMAN DAVE CAMP'S OFFICIAL WEBSITE
Camp and Baucus Team Up to Launch TaxReform.gov

Chairmen Launch Web Site to Provide American People Opportunity to Weigh In On Tax Reform

Thursday, May 09, 2013

Washington, DC – House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) today teamed up to launch TaxReform.gov, a new website dedicated to obtaining input from the American public on tax reform.

"The tax code is littered with special interest provisions that Washington has put in over the last 27 years. It is time to go line-by-line through the tax code and clean it up. There is no reason Americans should have to spend over 6 billion hours and over $160 billion every year just trying to comply with the tax code. Chairman Baucus and I believe in a tax code that is more effective and efficient. A simpler, fairer tax code will help families and it will help strengthen our economy. But Washington doesn’t have all the answers. That is why we are joining together in a non-partisan way to invite you to weigh in on this debate. We want you, the American people, to share your story and your ideas about how our tax code should work," Chairman Camp said.

"America’s tax code today is complex, inefficient and acting as a brake on our economy. Chairman Camp and I believe it is in need of a serious overhaul. Over the past two years we’ve held more than 50 hearings and heard from hundreds of experts on how to fix the tax code, to make it simpler and fairer for families and spark a more prosperous economy. Now it’s time to hear from the most important stakeholders — the American people," Chairman Baucus said. "Through the web site TaxReform.gov and Twitter all Americans will be able to weigh in and participate directly in the debate. We want to know what people think the nation’s tax system should look like and how we can make families lives easier."

Developed in partnership with the Joint Committee on Taxation, TaxReform.gov will serve as a platform for the American public to weigh in on tax reform. Input from visitors to the web site will be valuable to the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee as they craft legislation. The site also incorporates many Twitter tools that allow the public to weigh in by following @simplertaxes.

The idea is based on efforts of former Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski to engage the American public in the last successful overhaul of the U.S. tax code in 1985. He encouraged the American public to send letters in support of tax reform in what became known as the "Write Rosty Campaign." As a result, Rostenkowski received more than 75,000 letters and post cards from the American public in support of tax reform, helping lead to the Tax Reform Act of 1986.

Chairmen Baucus and Camp have recreated the outreach effort with a 21st century twist. Visitors to the website can learn about tax reform and submit ideas on how to improve the tax code. The site has been built around three sections: Why reform the Tax Code? What’s already underway? Share your story and ideas.

The site also provides a library of material detailing the efforts by Baucus and Camp over the past two years as they have developed comprehensive tax reform proposals.

Background on the "Write Rosty Campaign"

In early 1985, at the start of the last successful overhaul of the nation’s tax code, a little-known House committee chairman named Dan Rostenkowski delivered the Democratic response to President Reagan’s national address on tax reform. Rostenkowski used his speech, which drew immediate praise, as an opportunity to launch his "Write Rosty" campaign, calling on Americans to send his Capitol Hill office letters of support for a tax reform plan that would make the system simpler and fairer.

Within days, Rostenkowski had received more than 75,000 letters, as well as several more eclectic items, including a tax reform t-shirt and a two-by-four to "beat back lobbyists." Rostenkowski noted at the time how important it was for him and the Democratic Party to engage a naturally-skeptical public on tax reform to demonstrate what it was about – simplicity and fairness. He said average Americans felt like "suckers and chumps" when they paid their taxes because the system was rigged to give special privileges to the lucky few who could hide money in tax shelters and dodge paying their fair share.

"Write Rosty" with a 21st Century Twist

There is a compelling story to be told about how Chairmen Camp and Baucus are working together to revive public engagement on tax reform. They are developing bills to make the tax code simpler and fairer, and they want everyday Americans to be active participants in the reform process.

The public, just like in 1985, is naturally skeptical of tax reform. That’s partly because the issues are so complex, but it’s also because Democrats and Republicans in Congress have struggled to find common ground on much of anything lately. But tax reform has backers in both parties, and Chairmen Camp and Baucus have one of the most productive bipartisan relationships in Congress. They see this as an opportunity to legislate in the light of day and keep partisan politics from derailing the process. And the kind of engagement the "Write Rosty" campaign sparked nearly 30 years ago is even easier today thanks to the Internet and social media. That’s why the chairmen are launching TaxReform.gov and @simplertaxes to get the public involved and active in the process.

HOUSE WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE AND IRS IMPLEMENTATION OF THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

FROM:  CONGRESSMAN DAVE CAMP, CHAIRMAN OF THE HOUSE WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE

Boustany Opening Statement: Hearing on IRS Implementation of the Democrats’ Health Care Law
Good morning and welcome to today’s hearing on the Internal Revenue Service’s implementation and administration of the President’s health care law.

Before we begin this morning, it is appropriate to recall that eleven years ago, almost to the hour, our nation was savagely attacked. After these 11 years, each of can recall exactly what we were doing at that time. The horror of the day should make us resolve to continue doing our business and demonstrate that we won’t be intimidated or deterred. More than a decade has passed, but the attacks of that day still outrage, the tragedies still overwhelm, and the heroism still inspires us. We still mourn those lost on that day, and all those that have given their lives since in defense of liberty. And we are thankful for those who continue to stand and volunteer to serve our country both at home and abroad.

The Internal Revenue Service has enormous responsibility – it is tasked with administering our convoluted tax system and a tax code that has changed nearly 5,000 times in the past ten years alone. The agency is charged with collecting roughly two and a half trillion dollars, distributing hundreds of billions of dollars in tax credits, and enforcing 4,000 pages of tax laws and 80,000 pages of tax regulations.

The agency’s core revenue collection function has increasingly been crowded by its responsibility to administer many social programs. Through the years, Congress has sought to advance a multitude of non-revenue objectives through the tax code – energy policy, housing policy, and of course health care policy. Making the IRS both revenue collector and administrator of these activities has diverted IRS resources from its central mission and can diminish taxpayer service.

In 2010, the Congress passed President Obama’s health care law. Spanning nearly 1,000 pages and passed "so you can find out what is in it," in the famous words of then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the health care law contained 47 separate tax provisions and charged the IRS with vast new responsibilities. These included the implementation and administration of the largest entitlement created in more than a generation, new penalty taxes on individuals and employers who fail to buy or provide government-approved health insurance, the need quickly create vast new information technology systems, and the list goes on and on.

The President’s health care law has put the federal government in charge of approving health insurance plans, subsidizing them, punishing those who do not buy government-approved plans, and many other aspects of our health care system. And the Internal Revenue Service has been saddled with the responsibility of carrying out many of these new federal activities.

More than creating new burdens on the Internal Revenue Service, the President’s health care law has led to new tax rules and regulations that will pose significant challenges to both individuals and job creators. The Administration’s own documents state that the compliance burden of the new rules it has thus far written to pursuant to the President’s health care law will add nearly 80 million man-hours each year to individuals and job creators. 80 million hours that won’t be spent creating new wealth, providing health care, or doing anything productive. 80 million hours simply complying with new rules from Washington. This is the burden from just the IRS’s new rules, when you add the new regulations from HHS, the Department of Labor and other agencies, the burden on our sluggish economy goes still higher.

As a former surgeon and owner of a small medical practice in Louisiana, I know first hand how taxes, rules, and regulations from Washington can impede not only a small business, but also patient care, so I am especially interested in hearing from the IRS and our witnesses today about the how the new law will operate in the real world.

The object of this hearing is to assess the IRS’s efforts to administer the law, including its effect on the Service’s core mission, and how the decisions made now to implement it will affect both the agency and taxpayers as the law’s provisions continue to come into effect. This is also not a hearing to beat up on the IRS – an agency run by good men and women, dedicated public servants who have an incredibly difficult job. The agency did not write the health care law – the previous Congress did. They passed it, and now we are finding out what is in it and what it means for the country, for the Internal Revenue Service, and for taxpayers.