Orrin Hatch: “over the last few years, I have come to the floor many times to advocate for comprehensive tax reform. I share the…”

“over the last few years, I have come to the floor many times to advocate for comprehensive tax reform. I share the belief of many in Congress that tax reform is a necessary step to ensuring economic growth and prosperity in the future. This is why, as the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, I have made tax reform my top priority. We are now at a crossroads when it comes to tax reform. Before us there are two alternative paths. The first path is the one we took back in 1986. It is the path that former House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt and former Treasury Secretary James Baker advised members of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee to take. As you will recall, they were two critical players in the last successful tax reform effort. In 2011, at one of our hearings, they advised us to not mix deficit reduction and tax reform. This was a joint Senate Finance and Ways and Means Committee hearing. To paraphrase these two former leaders: Each is a hard enough task by itself, but doing them together is nearly impossible. That is one path we can take. The path that separates our tax reform efforts from our deficit reduction efforts. In 2011, they both advised us not to mix deficit reduction and tax reform. They just basically said that each is a hard enough task by itself, but doing them together is nearly impossible.…”