Sunsetting Tax Code First Step to Reform, Says Brady National Tax Debate Comes To Houston
Flat Tax Or Sales Tax?

Washington, D.C. -- Congressman Kevin Brady, a co-sponsor of H.R. 3097, the Tax Code Termination Act, praised its passage this week in the U.S. House of Representatives as the first and most critical step to real tax reform in America. The measure passed 219 to 209.

"We deserve a fairer, simpler tax code. It's wrong to have a tax code so complicated that many honest Americans are afraid to complete their own returns, and so full of loopholes that a company president can owe less tax than their secretary," said Brady.

The Tax Code Termination Act requires that Congress enact a replacement tax code no later than July 4, 2002 ensuring a transition period prior to the end of that year. The bill preserves the Social Security tax.

"If Congress doesn't set a firm deadline, Washington will never have the desire or the courage to simplify our tax code. The only ones who win in that case are the 60,000 lobbyists at the Capitol, many of whom are hired to protect existing loopholes," said Brady.

The current code, now 1.3 million words long, is too complex and too costly. Studies show most small businesses pay three times more to comply with the code than the taxes they owe. Individuals are struggling, too, with the IRS's 1040 EZ Form, considered the simplest of all tax return forms, containing 33 pages of instruction and the 1040 Form 76 pages.

"I urge the Senate to pass the companion bill this year, and encourage the President to not delay this important deadline," concluded Brady.