The Honorable Bob Goodlatte
United States House of Representatives
2240 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Representative Goodlatte:
On behalf of the 362,000 members ofthe National Taxpayers Union (NTU), I write in strong support of H.R. 462, the“Tax Code Termination Act.” By requiring a “sunset” date for the currentInternal Revenue Code, your bill would provide the impetus necessary to createa simper, fairer, and pro-growth Tax Code.
Our current Tax Code is ashockingly complex maze credits, deductions, and exemptions that distortAmericans’ behavior in order to serve policymakers’ often-conflicting goals. Theresult, as reported in NTU’s 2011 Taxing Trend complexity study, is anaggregate paperwork burden that requires 7.64 billion hours to complete, theequivalent of 3.82 million people working full time. This gigantictime-expenditure translates into $227.1 billion, when measured using average privatesector hourly compensation costs. From the 1950s until the 1980s the Tax Codewas streamlined roughly every 10 years. While incremental changes have been enactedin more recent decades, they have not necessarily served the cause ofsimplification. It has been 25 years since the last serious attempt at taxreform, and the law has grown more complex and inefficient with each passingyear.
By puttinga spigot on the stream of taxpayer money flowing into Washington, and bysetting a date to shut it off, your bill would provide the structure needed toforce Congress to deal with tax reform or face the political consequences offailing to do so. Because sunsetting the Tax Code does not guarantee a bettersystem, your bill provides common-sense principles to guide the reform process.Among the many useful guideposts, your bill stipulates that any reforms apply asimple, low rate to all taxpayers, end the Code as a tool for picking winnersand losers, and eliminate the bias against savings and investment. Takentogether, these guidelines would create a far superior alternative to thecurrent convoluted and economically inefficient structure.
Fundamental tax reform should besource of bipartisan agreement in an otherwise contentious policy atmosphere. Thereis unanimous agreement that our labyrinthine Tax Code creates unnecessary timeand monetary burdens for individuals and businesses. Comprehensive reform wouldeliminate these burdens, allowing for lower tax rates as well as economicefficiency that will help all Americans to prosper. For these reasons, NTU endorses the Tax Code Termination Actand any roll call votes on this legislation will be significantly weightedin our annual Rating of Congress.
Sincerely,
Brandon Greife
Federal Government Affairs Manager