Officials to Release Tax Plan Principles This Week -- 2nd Update
July 26 2017 - 4:20PM
Dow Jones News
By Richard Rubin
Top congressional Republicans and Trump administration officials
plan to release their tax-policy principles at the end of this
week, said two people briefed on those discussions.
The plan will include high-level principles, said one of the
people. An administration official said the statement will reflect
areas of agreement in the group.
The so-called Big Six officials on tax policy have been meeting
for months and are gathering Wednesday afternoon, in what is
expected to be their final session before the congressional summer
recess.
It is unclear what conclusions they will reach and how those
will go beyond what they have already said. The broad strokes --
lower tax rates in a deficit-neutral tax-code revamp -- have
generally been agreed on for months.
What isn't clear yet is how the principles released this week
will address the House GOP's plan for border-adjusting the
corporate tax. House members have been sticking to that idea --
taxing imports and exempting exports -- even though it has faced
heavy criticism for months from senators and retailers.
The six officials are Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, White
House economic policy chief Gary Cohn, House Speaker Paul Ryan,
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Finance Committee
Chairman Orrin Hatch and House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin
Brady.
When Congress returns, lawmakers expect to start the
more-detailed tax-policy work. Members of the group have said they
hope to pass a new law by the end of the year but will need to move
quickly on policy decisions and votes to meet the goal.
Mr. Mnuchin told a Senate committee on Wednesday that he was
"very close" to putting out a more detailed tax plan.
The principles from the Big Six aren't expected to include
legislative text, which would have to be hashed out by lawmakers
later this year.
Rep. Mark Meadows (R., N.C.), head of the conservative House
Freedom Caucus, said he welcomed the principles as a way of
clarifying where Congress is heading, but that doesn't mean House
members will accept it.
"History shows you that when six people get together and agree
on anything, it doesn't necessarily make for 218 votes in the
House," he said Wednesday.
Mr. Meadows said he expected the principles to rule out border
adjustment.
"At this point if it doesn't say no border adjustment tax either
clearly or almost as clear as no border adjustment tax, then the
gang of six should pull what they worked on," he said. "They should
deep-six it."
Removing border adjustment would solve some problems, but it
would leave others, including $1 trillion in forgone revenue over
10 years. Also, if Republicans eliminate the tax on U.S. companies'
foreign earnings, they need some way to prevent companies from
shifting profits to low-tax countries.
Border adjustment helped do that, and no ready alternative has
emerged yet.
Beyond that, there are still many unknowns, as well as political
and procedural hurdles.
President Donald Trump said Tuesday in an interview with The
Wall Street Journal that he wants to focus on middle-class tax cuts
and hinted at scaling back tax cuts for high-income households.
Some Republican senators balked at versions of the health-care bill
because it featured tax cuts for top earners' investment
income.
The GOP plans, including Mr. Trump's, all feature lower rates on
businesses, which are largely owned by high-income households. The
plans all repeal the estate tax and eliminate the alternative
minimum tax, which primarily benefit high-income households. They
all lower taxes on capital gains and dividends, which are received
mostly by high-income households.
Procedurally, even to get to a tax bill that can pass the Senate
without Republican votes, the House and Senate must agree on a
budget. The House doesn't plan to vote on its budget until
September and the Senate hasn't made significant progress on its
plan.
The GOP health-care push remains in flux and may leave in place
taxes that Republicans had been banking on repealing before they
got to the tax bill.
As with health care, lawmakers will have to live within the
constraints imposed by the so-called reconciliation rules that
allow speedy consideration without Democratic votes. The plan can't
increase long-run budget deficits. And, because Republicans have
just 52 votes in the Senate, any three GOP senators can band
together to make demands.
Kate Davidson, Nick Timiraos and Siobhan Hughes contributed to
this article.
Write to Richard Rubin at richard.rubin@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 26, 2017 16:05 ET (20:05 GMT)
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