Mike & Co. – In a stark departure from political history since Reagan and Goldwater, the Republican Party this year has struggled to come up with a unified tax message. Perhaps more odd, still, are the abrupt change in tone surrounding the tax debate, from the traditionally robustly pronounced to a muted, tentative, and confused …
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. This has been a busy week in Washington especially on the tax front, with more to follow. We’ve already seen a number of hearings and developments on the most salient current tax bills and related proposals in the last two days, which are itemized and vetted for viability below. Tomorrow, an assessment of which …
Mike & Co. — One thing the two parties agree is that international tax reform is a fiscally necessary issue to take up — that Uncle Sam is leaving hundreds of billions of dollars on the table overseas annually. But they would also generally agree that it is not going to get done this …
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. — HRC added some key planks to her tax plan on Monday. Her proposals increase federal revenues by $400-500 billion over ten years without increasing taxes for anyone earning less than $250,000 a year. A third of the new revenue would come from a “fair share surcharge” levied on earnings exceeding $5 million taxed at the same rate, whether …
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 …
Senior Senate Finance and House Ways and Means staff were at the negotiating table much of this weekend, working on a growing tax extenders-plus package now rumored to cost in the $700-800 billion over ten-year ballpark. The package began with the Senate Finance bill reported in July extending or making permanent the 50-odd tax breaks known as …
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 …
