Mike & Co. — Yesterday, House Ways and Means chair Kevin Brady released a “budget savings package designed to cut taxes.” Brady’s gambit reflects the growing buyers remorse regarding the omnibus agreement within the Freedom Caucus. Hard liners have objected to the spending levels set in the Obama-Boehner deal; this package is meant to buy …
Mike & Co. — Upbeat tax talk is as common this time of year as predictions that this year the Cubs will win the World Series this fall. The word is that Messrs. Ryan and McConnell want to run a smooth, efficient, maybe even a productive ship this year on the theory that voters will …
Mike & Co., The hopes of even the most zealous advocate of tax reform must be modest this year, but brave talk is heard from some well-placed members. Almost any reform would be seen as a crowning accomplishment for the new Speaker but the maw of election year politics militates against anything bipartisan and ambitious. …
Mike & Co. — The economy added 292,000 jobs last month, up from 252,000 in November. Unemployment was 5 percent, unchanged, with scant evidence of wage growth. Labor force participation remained low, 62.6 percent, unchanged from November’s 62.5 percent, close to its lowest level since the 1970s. Spring doesn’t feel around the corner but at least primary politics …
Mike & Co. — The most significant personnel question opened up by Paul Ryan’s promotion was resolved this evening when the GOP members of House Ways and Means elected Kevin Brady of Texas the Committee’s new Chair, succeeding Ryan. So the parlor game now is what this means for comprehensive tax reform. Some say …
As you know, Jeb Bush delivered a comprehensive tax reform proposal in a speech in North Carolina and op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal yesterday. The headline provisions may be familiar by now and they will likely help raise and frame the debate on tax and related issues for the much of the campaign Bush’s …
