On June 27th the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus (D-MT) and Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-UT) announced their plan for tax reform legislation in the United States Senate. A letter to all Senators announced their intention to “mark-up” (create legislation in the committee) a tax reform bill this fall and that they would be starting with a “blank slate.” This proposal mirrors the path outlined by Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) in the House of Representatives. What is the blank slate? A “blank slate” means that as a starting point, all tax expenditures (including tax deductions such as the mortgage interest deduction, tax exemptions such as the capital gains exemption on the sale of a primary residence, and tax credits such as energy efficiency tax credits) will be removed from the tax code. Senators will have to request tax expenditures be added to the reform legislation. Using the “blank slate” approach allows the Senate Finance Committee to highlight just how much tax rates could be reduced by eliminating all the tax expenditures. Adding any tax expenditures back into the code would ratchet the rates up.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Jul 2013 13:53:40 +0000
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