Search FAIRtax.org

Tax reform promise by GOP may not be kept before recess

Tax officials at some of America’s biggest companies are discounting chances that Republicans will be able to rewrite the tax code by next year, saying Wednesday that they’re going about “business as usual.”

The bearish assessment suggests little faith in the GOP, which has for years promised a massive tax code overhaul if voters gave the party control of Washington.

Now in control, however, Republicans have struggled to find unity on a plan that can flatten the code while not sending the country spiraling into debt or angering key constituencies.

Meaningful tax reform by next summer is “less likely than not,” said Jeffrey Maydew, who works in global tax planning at the legal firm Baker McKenzie.

And big changes are unlikely to happen at all if things don’t materialize by early next year, said Christopher J. Wolter, vice president of tax for Boeing, who says he’s “less optimistic than I was” about major action before next summer.