Lance: Tax System Too Complex, Costly

To the Editor:

Tax Day, April 17, reminds us that the current tax system is too complex,
too costly and too burdensome.

According to the U.S. House Budget Committee, to comply with this
inefficient tax code, individuals, families and businesses spend over six
billion hours and more than $160 billion per year trying to do their taxes.

And the tax code is unfair, as many of the deductions and preferences are
available mainly to a relatively small class of taxpayers.

It's wrong and it's why House Republicans have a reform plan that calls
for a simpler, flatter and fairer tax system that will restore economic
opportunity and prosperity to our nation's economy.

Earlier this month, the House passed a 2013 budget blueprint. Among the
many initiatives to bring our nation's spending and debt under control,
this budget includes important tax reform proposals.

The House budget cuts tax rates and provides for just two individual
brackets of 10 percent and 25 percent.

The budget would end the Alternative Minimum Tax, which originally was
aimed at 155 of the wealthiest Americans, but now ensnares a growing number
of middle-class taxpayers each year, including millions of New Jerseyeans.

The blueprint promotes saving by eliminating taxes on interest, capital
gains and dividends, and also eliminates the death tax.

And under the House-passed budget, U.S. Corporate rates would be reduced
from 35 percent, ­ currently the highest in the world, ­ to 25 percent while
nearly eliminating taxes on American corporations' earnings from overseas
operations, making U.S. businesses and workers more competitive, and
encouraging reinvestment and economic growth right here at home.

Our plan, the House Republican plan, is a sharp contrast to President Barack
Obama's budget, which leaves the current tax code largely unchanged while
adding to the complexity of the federal tax code by levying higher taxes
on many New Jersey family households and small businesses.

And this week, the U.S. Senate will vote on the so-called Buffett Rule, ­ a
proposal that the president himself called, "a gimmick," that raises at
most $5 billion a year, or enough to pay one week's interest on the
national debt.

Instead of higher taxes and election year gimmicks that won't help the
economy, it's time to focus on fundamental tax reform that promotes hard
work, savings and investments to help bring forward economic growth.

In an environment with trillion-dollar deficits and eight-plus percent
unemployment, growth is more important than ever.

Sincerely,

Leonard Lance

Republican Rep., 7th District