U.S. Peter Roskam (R-IL) recently weighed in on attempts at federal tax reform during an appearance on "Chicago Morning Answer" radio program on WIND.
The show segment started with quotes from Paul Ryan about tax reform, with Ryan saying that tax reform is “very hard” and that the country is coming out of a period of “economic anxiety."
Bringing on Roskam, the show's co-hosts, Dan Proft and Amy Jacobson, asked about tax reform and how it was going. Proft is a principal of Local Government Information Services, which owns this publication.
While admitting that “nobody was spiking the football,” Roskam suggested during the Nov. 17 broadcast that the passage of the tax bill to the Senate is a good first step. One bright indicator, he said, is that the parameters of the House bill and the Senate bill are similar.
“They're tracking with each other,” Roskam said, contending that differences between the two bills can be negotiated. He said it's important that House members give the Senate space to work, and vice versa, saying that legislators “learned a lesson” on health care, where after much wrangling, a bill to repeal major aspects of the Affordable Care Act failed in the Senate.
Roskam asserted that tax reform is actually “not a hard sell” for the middle class, saying that 70 percent of tax relief goes to households earning under $200,000 a year. He did not address how the relief affects the income range between $75,000 and $200,000 a year, a crucial income range for those debating the nature of the American middle class.
“It looks better the more you look at it,” Roskam said of the tax bill, explaining elements of the bill that he feels will brighten the economic landscape.
Responding to questions about how different businesses will be affected by the bill and concerns from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) about pass-through businesses, Roskam said that the current tax bill will bring C corp. and S corp. rates down by the same proportion and that he feels small businesses will be “wholeheartedly” behind the bill as it will be good for these businesses on the whole.
Roskam also contended that C corporations have a “double taxation” in the form of dividends, so that the overall taxation should be considered with that double taxation added in. That, he suggested, makes it necessary to maintain a low rate for the C corps.
Asked about the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act, Roskam said the House is assuming that the Senate doesn't have the capacity to add a change, but that Republicans in the House will be pleasantly surprised if the Senate shows that it has that capacity.
“A lot of folks have wrestled greatly with this,” Roskam said.
He also said the IRS should not be able to manipulate the tax code against ordinary citizens.
“I'm not tired of winning yet,” Roskam quipped, citing some of the words of President Donald Trump and his input on how America will be affected by his presidency.
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