Mitch Perry
An excited Vern Buchanan took to Fox Business News Channel Friday morning, predicting that a major tax reform bill will come out of the House of Representatives by the time Congress breaks for summer recess.
“The stars have aligned,” the Sarasota GOP congressman told anchor Charles Payne.
“I can just tell you, we’ve been working on this for the last six and a half years, but we’re very focused in the last three to four months, and as some of this gets out to more of the communities and various individuals, you’re going to get some feedback, but I’m very pro-growth,” he said.
“This is going to be a very pro-growth tax policy that I’m confident will get done, ideally by August, that’s the game plan. I’ve had the opportunity to work closely with Speaker [Paul] Ryan as well in the past six years, and I have a lot of confidence that we’re going to get this done.”
Buchanan serves on the House Ways & Means Committee, which is currently working on legislation based on a tax-reform proposal that House Republicans offered last June. The plan includes a border adjustment tax that has been somewhat problematic with GOP Senators.
On a proposed 20 percent tax on all imports, Georgia Sen. David Perdue called it “regressive, hammers consumers and shuts down economic growth.”
Several other Republicans have also expressed concerns about such a border adjustment tax.
On Thursday, President Trump said a “phenomenal” plan to overhaul business taxes might be released within the next “two or three weeks,” without offering any details, saying simply that his plans call for “lowering the overall tax burden of American businesses, big league.”
Buchanan hopes the reform plans will include full, immediate expensing for business equipment, which would let businesses immediately deduct expenses from their income.
“The idea that you can write off an asset the first year, a piece of equipment that’s $5 million the first year, is a big creates a lot of excitement for a lot of people in business,” Buchanan enthused.
Last year Buchanan offered up legislation aimed at ensuring that small businesses don’t pay higher rates than corporations. His plans called for lowering the rate for noncorporate businesses to 25 percent. Trump’s tax plan during the presidential campaign would provide a 15-percent rate for “all businesses, both small and large, that want to retain the profits within the business.”
