Autumn Price
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is declaring that he will honor his commitment to fighting for tax reform in the Senate.
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In an op-ed for CNN on Wednesday, the senator stressed the importance of lifting heavy tax burdens off of middle class Americans.
“Unlike health care, tax reform can be simple, but I’m afraid those who are in charge will make it unnecessarily complicated, especially when coupled with an alarming timidity that could render the reform’s impact nearly meaningless,” Paul says.
Paul is critical of those in Washington who argue that tax cuts should be “revenue neutral,” arguing that such a “reform” wouldn’t bring tax cuts at all.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he will pursue a revenue neutral tax plan.
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It appears the two Kentucky senators will be at odds on this front. “Revenue neutral ultimately means that someone pays more for someone else to pay less. It means tax ‘reform’ without real tax cuts,” Paul continued. “Let me ask you a serious question. If someone has to pay more for someone else to pay less — which category do you think you and other Americans might fall into?”
The senator wrote, “I fear that tax reform that mandates revenue neutrality will result in those with the best lobbyists, lawyers and accountants being the winners, while most everyone else either gets nothing or largely loses out.”
Paul encourages his fellow legislators to be “bold” in their tax reform efforts, pointing out that Republicans can “cut taxes, and promote jobs and growth, without picking winners and losers.”
To do this, Paul says, Congress must focus on cutting taxes for individual Americans, slashing the corporate tax rate to 15 percent, and “stop the double taxation and international money hoarding of our biggest companies.”
“Every American who pays taxes should get a tax cut … I’d favor a large cut of at least 15 percent for every taxpayer. But the main and important thing is that everyone gets a tax cut,” Paul said.
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According to a 2016 Tax Foundation analysis of President Trump’s campaign plan, lowering the corporate rate to 15 percent could create approximately 2 million new jobs. Cutting the rate to 15 percent would also make the United States even with Canada’s federal rate.
Paul also slammed protectionism, pointing to companies like Apple and Google, who are understandably unwilling to pay excessive tariffs. The senator concluded by saying that Republicans and even some Democrats should support this plan, and urges President Trump to consider his proposal.
“If tax reform is run like most things around here — like Obamacare repeal, for example — then I can’t predict what will happen other than it will be complicated, won’t help much and could even fail,” Paul said. “There’s no excuse for that.”
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