Transcript
ROSANNE ALTSHULER: ... The report starts by making the case for reform and that case was very
easy to make. The current system is complex, it's unfair and it's inefficient, and we
thought that this illustration did a good job of illustrating that. Let me give you our
starting point because I think this is really important. We had some constraints that we
worked with.
The executive order directed the panel to recommend options that would
make the tax code simpler, fairer, and more conducive to economic growth while
recognizing the importance of home ownership and charity in American society.
We limited our evaluation or we were limited to reforms of the individual
and corporate income tax system. You will not hear me talking today about the estate
tax or the payroll tax. We talked about income tax reform, corporate and individual.
We had some additional constraints. Revenue neutrality. This was a
tough one. We had to be revenue neutral, and I'll talk more about that in a second.
And then the panel made a decision, this summer, to repeal the alternative
minimum tax. So that was another constraint that we were working with. The executive
order also asked us to distribute the tax burden in an appropriately progressive manner,
so we had distribution as a constraint, and we had also simplicity as a constraint, but it
was a constraint that we took especially seriously.
We took all of them seriously but simplicity was one that was always in
the forefront of our talks, of our deliberations.
The decision was made to use the administration baseline. That projects
17.4 trillion in federal, individual and corporate income tax revenues over the next ten
years.
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