Corporate execs up tax reform pressure

Twenty corporate executives are intensifying their lobbying efforts to overhaul the tax code on Thursday.

{mosads}The executives urged the top tax writers on Capitol Hill to get moving on tax reform, which has long been a top priority of corporate America, in the next Congress. Executives from the Reforming America’s Taxes Equitably, or RATE, Coalition are also set to come to Capitol Hill on Thursday to press their case with individual lawmakers and tax staff.

In their letter, the RATE executives noted the U.S. corporate tax rate was far higher than many international competitors and that its complexity is a further burden on the business community. They also insisted they would be willing to consider giving up their own cherished tax breaks to reduce the corporate rate, which now tops out at 35 percent at the federal level.

But in a nod to the recent election results, the executives also made the case that tax reform could help the middle class.

“Clearly, the strong public support for making the code simpler, fairer and more competitive is rooted in a belief that today’s code is broken,” the executives from corporations like Altria, Boeing, Intel and Walt Disney wrote. “It is holding our country back and as a result investment is waning, uncertainty is high and paychecks are stagnant.”

Executives from the corporate coalition are scheduled to meet Thursday with Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.), Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), Rep. Patrick Tiberi (R-Ohio), Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Senate Finance Committee staff from both parties. The executives will also hold a roundtable with House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) and other GOP lawmakers, and meet with Jason Furman, the chairman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers.

Analysts and lawmakers have long said tax reform would be an uphill climb over the next two years. On Wednesday, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the incoming chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, tried to temper expectations even further, saying Obama’s planned executive action on immigration would hurt the tax reform efforts.