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White House tax-reform push is ‘game changer,’ says ex-chairman

Dave Camp knows a thing or two about tax reform from his days as chairman of House Ways and Means Committee, and he says President Trump’s commitment to the issue is a “game changer.”

The Michigan Republican, who now works as a senior policy adviser at PwC, said he’s “optimistic” about the chances of tax-reform legislation passing this year.

“It’s never easy to do tax reform, but I do think that there is a growing sense that this is something that we need to do,” he said.Camp, who retired from Congress at the end of his term in 2015, partnered with former Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) on the last major attempt to rewrite the tax code.

While that effort ultimately failed, it helped lay the groundwork for the tax reform push that Republicans are making now that they control both chambers of Congress.

This time around, the effort has the support of the Trump White House, which last week released a tax reform plan that calls for lowering rates and eliminating tax preferences for individuals and for corporations.