Republicans need President Donald Trump to get tax reform back on track.
Lawmakers widely agree on the need for a major tax-code cleanup, but they are tied in knots over how. The main proposal, by House Speaker Paul Ryan, has taken a beating from many of the party’s erstwhile allies in the business community, not to mention a growing number of Republicans.
But it’s unclear what the critics could support in its place, with lawmakers offering a host of competing proposals.
That’s creating a big void that Trump, now working on a new tax-reform plan of his own, can fill — by resuscitating Ryan’s so-called border adjustment plan or perhaps with an entirely new vision for the tax code.
“I’m waiting to see what’s coming out of the White House because, at the end of the day, the most powerful voice is going to be the president’s,” said Rep. Mike Kelly, a Republican member of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee.
Lawmakers widely agree on the need for a major tax-code cleanup, but they are tied in knots over how. The main proposal, by House Speaker Paul Ryan, has taken a beating from many of the party’s erstwhile allies in the business community, not to mention a growing number of Republicans.
But it’s unclear what the critics could support in its place, with lawmakers offering a host of competing proposals.
That’s creating a big void that Trump, now working on a new tax-reform plan of his own, can fill — by resuscitating Ryan’s so-called border adjustment plan or perhaps with an entirely new vision for the tax code.
“I’m waiting to see what’s coming out of the White House because, at the end of the day, the most powerful voice is going to be the president’s,” said Rep. Mike Kelly, a Republican member of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee.