How the Big Six Tax Plan Compares to Previous Proposals

By Laura Davison and Colleen Murphy

The group of congressional leaders and White House officials known as the Big Six released the framework of tax legislation Republicans hope to pass this year.

The framework is the most detailed seen this year but leaves many decisions up to the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees, including setting the top individual rate and implementing base erosion measures for multinational corporations. The document also gives a nod to corporate integration, a plan favored by Senate Finance Chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), saying the committees could consider methods to reduce double taxation on corporations.

Republicans have said they plan to move legislation quickly through the committee process and passage on the House and Senate floors—a heavy lift, as Republicans must make tough calls about what tax breaks to eliminate to pay for lower rates. Deciding whether a 20 percent corporate rate must be phased in over time, as well as what provisions can be permanent, will be up to the committees, Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) said Sept. 27.

“There is much more negotiating to do,” John P. Gimigliano, principal-in-charge of federal legislative and regulatory services at KPMG LLP, told Bloomberg BNA. “At some point this will need to be turned into a bill that will be a thousand or thousands of pages.”

Republicans will largely be negotiating with themselves because they won’t need Democratic votes to pass the bill. Democrats were quick to criticize the tax framework, saying it didn’t do enough to boost the middle class.

“Despite the Republicans’ claims that their tax plan is all about the middle-class, it is instead a poorly disguised tax cut for the rich,” Ways and Means ranking member Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.) said at a press event.

Hatch and third-ranking Senate Republican John Thune (S.D.) called for Democratic support at a Sept. 27 news conference following a GOP member retreat.

To contact the reporters on this story: Laura Davison in Washington at lDavison@bna.com, Colleen Murphy in Washington at cmurphy@bna.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Meg Shreve at mshreve@bna.com

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