Republican Party on Tax Reform Party Platform

OpEd: 1986 tax reform was bipartisan; 2017 reform isn't

One might wonder why Trump reversed himself. The answer is, he really hasn't. Republicans have used the aura of the 1986 Tax Reform Act to promote their tax-cut plans. But what they have in mind now is quite different. The 1986 Tax Reform Act was a bipartisan law, which did not reduce revenue to the government, and actually increased the effective tax rate paid by the rich by eliminating special treatment for capital gains and other tax breaks for the rich. Some Democrats have offered to support legislation along those lines, but the Republican leadership has outright refused.

It's not clear whether Trump realizes the law he praised at length [this week] is the same one he previously accused of destroying the American economy.

Line in the sand: no tax increases (focus on spending)

Source: The Debt Bomb, by Sen. Tom Coburn, p. 56 , Apr 17, 2012

56% oppose raising taxes on earnings over $250,000

Tea Partiers' dread of tax hikes even surpasses the usual level at which Republicans worry about and oppose tax increases. 80% of Tea Partiers oppose raising taxes on Americans making more than $250,000 a year, a number that far exceeds the 56% of non- Tea Party Republicans who are opposed to such levies. Even compared to fellow conservatives, Tea Partiers are especially worried about the political response to the economic downturn--which helps explain why the Tea Party outburst happened when it did.

Cut taxes to stimulate economy and help families

Budget surpluses are the result of over-taxation of the American people. The weak link in the chain of prosperity is the tax system. It not only burdens the American people; it threatens to slow, and perhaps to reverse, the economic expansion: We therefore enthusiastically endorse the principles of Governor Bush’s Tax Cut:
• Replace the five current tax brackets with four lower ones, ensuring all taxpayers significant tax relief while targeting it especially toward low-income workers.
• Help families by doubling the child tax credit to $1,000, making it available to more families, and eliminating the marriage penalty.
• Encourage entrepreneurship and growth by capping the top marginal rate, ending the death tax, and making permanent the Research and Development credit.
• Promote charitable giving and education.
• Foster capital investment and savings to boost today’s dangerously low personal savings rate.

Tax cuts & low interest rates lead to home ownership

Repeal death tax & give tax break to care for elderly

Simplicity & fairness: 3 tax brackets with lower top rate.

Our Challenge Our tax code is a mess, and that's putting it lightly. Multiple brackets. High rates. Special interest breaks everywhere. Rules and regulations that are too complicated to understand. It costs more and more each year just to do your taxes, let alone pay them. All of this drags people down and leaves businesses buried in paperwork and compliance problems. So instead of promoting growth, our tax code is pushing jobs overseas. And the agency charged with overseeing all of this--the IRS--has repeatedly violated the trust of the American taxpayer.

Our Vision We need a new tax code. It needs to be fair and simple for everyone. It should be so simple that most Americans can do their taxes on a form as simple as a postcard. Our tax code should be built for growth.
• Simplicity and fairness. Our plan makes the tax code simpler, fairer, and flatter, so it's easier to have peace of mind at critical moments in life.
• Consolidate the system down to three tax brackets, and lower the top individual income tax rate to 33 percent.
• Simplify tax filing for families by creating a larger standard deduction and a larger child and dependent tax credit.
• Jobs and growth. Our plan makes it easier to create jobs, raise wages, and expand opportunity for all Americans.
• Cut taxes on small businesses by creating a separate, low tax rate of 25 percent for many on Main Street.
• Cut taxes on savings and investment by allowing families and individuals to deduct 50 percent of the dividends, capital gains, and interest received from stocks and mutual funds.
• A service first IRS. Our plan matches a simpler, fairer tax code with a simpler, fairer IRS that puts taxpayers first. Clear out the bureaucracy by doing away with all the rules, regulations, forms, and instructions that won't be needed with a simpler, fairer tax code.