House Ways and Means Committee Member Charles W. Boustany Jr.,
R-La., is aiming to complete an international tax reform bill by
the end of March, and he has upped the stakes by promising to
include a broader corporate rate cut.
Ways and Means Committee Chair Kevin Brady, R-Texas, is committed
to pursuing international reform this year, and has deputized
Boustany to help lead the effort because of Boustany's "IP
box" discussion draft last year. Boustany's proposal would
provide a deduction for C corporations that would essentially
create a reduced rate on income derived from using domestic
intellectual property. The idea is to combine this proposal with a
broader international reform package that would exempt most
offshore earnings from U.S. tax after a one-time tax on
unrepatriated earnings.
Ways and Means Committee Republicans have shifted their focus to
this international-only effort after discussions on broader
business reform failed last year. Lawmakers largely abandoned
efforts to pursue a corporate rate cut as part of business reform
after pass-through businesses objected to being left out. But
Boustany is now proposing to include a corporate rate cut with his
international proposal.
Corporate reform is a significantly more ambitious undertaking and
could potentially require significant revenue offsets. It would
also run into the same objections from pass-through businesses that
scuttled reform efforts last year. Brady has not commented on
whether he wants to include a corporate rate cut as part of an
international package, but has promised House Speaker Paul Ryan,
R-Wis., that a new GOP task force on tax reform will provide a
reform blueprint this year.
The task force convened its first meeting last week and released a
mission statement that calls for a simpler, fairer and flatter tax
code with fewer loopholes, special interest carve-outs, deductions,
exclusions and credits. The focus will be on pro-growth tax reform
that makes compliance significantly easier.
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