Orrin Hatch: “before we move to a vote on the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, I want to take a moment to discuss the part of the bill…”

“before we move to a vote on the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, I want to take a moment to discuss the part of the bill that is intended to be an offset for partially lifting the budget caps established under the Budget Control Act. Under current law, large partnerships are subject to a special set of tax procedural rules. They are known as the TEFRA partnership rules because they were included in the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982. These rules are complex and unwieldly for both the taxpayers and the Internal Revenue Service. Most tax experts agree that these rules are in bad need of reform. I agree. The Treasury Department, former House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, and Congressman Jim Renacci have all put forward reforms of the TEFRA partnership rules. And, on the Senate Finance Committee, we have been looking at those reforms and other proposals as well. We have also held discussions with the Ways and Means Committee, as well as tax professionals and members of the business community. These efforts, so far, have been bipartisan. Because any such reforms would have a significant impact on a large number of taxpayers, we were prepared to tackle this problem the same way the Finance Committee has dealt with other widely applicable tax compliance measures. Specifically, we had planned to release various discussion drafts that would be open for public comment and subsequent modification.…”