The debate for federal tax reform is brewing in Congress, and those who discredit the possibility should look at the firepower behind a joint statement released on July 27th from House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX). This follows an outline for tax reform released by Treasury Secretary Mnuchin in April, reported by CUNA.
This joint statement marks an agreement between the White House, Senate and House leadership, and the two congressional tax-writing committees to proceed in crafting legislation to overhaul the tax code. And with these entities in agreement of this initiative, tax reform legislation is anticipated to go through the normal process of hearings, debates and different versions of legislation before proceeding to the floor for a vote … an “out in the open” process. Credit unions will continue to hear about this on a federal level, and much work will need to continue to engage members of Congress to protect the credit union tax status. It will be important for the industry to ensure that policymakers are aware of the credit union difference as committees and staff work to add more detail to the framework.
