by Greg Corombos
The man who spearheaded the tax-reform effort in the House of Representatives says the new provisions will accelerate America’s economic growth and surpass previous expectations, thanks to middle-class tax relief and a far more favorable environment for corporations and small businesses.
On Wednesday, both the House and Senate approved the $1.5 trillion package without any support from Democrats on either side of Capitol Hill. The win for the GOP ends the year on a political high months after the deep frustration of failing to pass an Obamacare repeal or reform bill.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, led the tax-reform push in the House of Representatives. He told WND and Radio America the key to success on this package was Republicans all starting on the same legislative page. And Brady said the credit for that belongs at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.
“We started off from a good place. There was a lot of common ground. That’s because President Trump agreed this summer to work with the House and Senate tax writers toward one tax-reform approach,” he said. “That really made the difference, in my view.”
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There were some important differences between the original House and Senate bills that needed to be ironed out in a conference committee. The Senate got its way in keeping seven tax brackets, although they were adjusted to make sure the vast majority of Americans got a tax cut, and repealing Obamacare’s individual mandate.
The House also won some tussles in conference, including what Brady believes might be the most important provision in the bill.
“The most important economic issue was to make sure that these tax cuts occurred for local businesses as well as our companies that compete around the world now, on Jan. 1 of next year,” he said. “We need that growth and expansion now.”
In the end, Brady said the final bill was better than either the House or Senate bills, something he said almost never happens in Congress.
The passage of the tax-reform package comes at a time when the stock market is booming and economists see GDP growth of three percent or more for quite a while. Brady said the new laws will accelerate growth even more.
“[Economists] think that will stay this way for another decade or more, so the question for the country is: Do we just settle for this very slow growth, where paychecks never move and kids come out of school without good-paying jobs, or do we shake it up?” asked Brady.
