Tax reform will benefit everyone
The House Ways and Means Committee, which writes the nation’s tax laws, hosted its first hearing of the year Thursday on tax reform, which is encouraging to those of us who have been waiting for decisive action in the updating of the tax code.
This first step, and its expected dialogue, are promising to the process of critical tax change. These high-level discussions will enhance the United States’ capacity to achieve comprehensive tax reform that will allow us to remain competitively positioned in the global economy.
The 70,000 pages of the current tax code is the last in a roughly 30-year cycle of tax reforms and is built on the economic environment of the mid-1980s (Tax Reform Act of 1986) . Since that revision, the nation’s economic situation has changed dramatically. Primarily because of technology, the world has become interconnected in a way that has significantly affected taxation of businesses, government and American consumers.
Despite the oratory, observation tells us that investment, jobs, opportunity, and offshore business migration have not been “taken away” from Americans but, because of the perceived pain or gain of tax change, have been encouraged by our own public policy. Ohioans, along with the entire nation, are a resilient and innovative people. Now is not the time to rely on the diversity of rhetoric but to modernize our approach to taxation, enabling businesses to compete globally, incentivizing investors to better balance return and risk, and addressing inequities at all socioeconomic levels.
A modernized tax code will open global markets, reposition commercial business, and create an environment that produces opportunity, job growth, increased economic equity, and economic security.
Ohio alone could see dramatic increases in business opportunity, and with it, tens of thousands of new jobs.
If Congress and the White House commit to a bipartisan conversation on comprehensive tax changes, it will usher in a refreshing time of growth and prosperity, as the advantage of being a competitive global partner benefits all Americans. Therefore, Ohio’s delegation is urged to remain committed to bipartisan tax transformation that will bring serious benefits to the nation. This will be the next bold step.
James Klein Columbus a whole new administration except, of course, Trump.
Washington, D.C., must think it is witnessing a Marx Brothers movie. “The Marx Brothers at the White House” with our chief executive as the irrepressible “Groucho,” and his alter ego Harpo played by the always smiling sycophantic Mike Pence (honk if you agree, Mike).
Apart from abrogating preelection promises, it is difficult to predict how this administration will be an answer to anyone’s needs and concerns, let alone its constituency.
It is not “A Night at the Opera,” but it’s getting close. Dublin