CONGRESSMAN STEVE CHABOT 1ST DISTRICT OF OHIO

With tax day approaching, millions of Americans are rushing to finish their taxes and grappling with the complexity of the tax code.  So, I think today is a good day to remind them that it doesn’t have to be this way.

Yesterday the Small Business Committee had two hearings about small businesses and the tax code. One had small business folks themselves, the other had the IRS Commissioner. The conclusion was clear: the tax code is hindering job creation in this country.

If we had a copy of the tax code here, it would be eight Bibles high.  But, size is only half the problem.  The tax code is also so complex that even experts don’t understand it all.

Several years ago, Money Magazine asked 50 different tax experts to determine the taxes a hypothetical family would owe, and they got 50 different answers.  And they were all wrong.

So, it is not surprising then that every year, Americans spend 6.1 billion hours preparing their taxes—time I'm sure each of us wishes we could get back. The cost of all those hours adds up very quickly.  It is estimated that complying with the tax code cost our economy $234 billion in productivity in 2014 alone.

Enough is enough.  We need to scrap the current tax code and replace it with a fairer, flatter, simpler code that is less burdensome on hardworking Americans and helps them plan for the future. 

H.R. 27 would do just that by sunsetting the current tax code in 2019, and requiring Congress to come up with a fairer, simpler replacement.  Doing so would help working Americans keep more of what they earn and help small businesses spend less time and money figuring out how to file their taxes, and more time doing what they do best.

Nobody likes to pay taxes, but the convoluted system we have now simply adds to the burden.