2706, 2018

Tax Reform 2.0

By |June 27th, 2018|Tax Reform Watch|0 Comments

During a discussion yesterday with The Washington Post, House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady—a former House colleague of mine—discussed his plans for “Tax Reform 2.0” and the timeline to advance that agenda.

It’s only been six months since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was signed into law by President Trump. We are still waiting for critical guidance from the Treasury Department and the IRS about the new Section 199A, the revolutionary and complex international tax regime, tweaked versions of cost recovery provisions and limitations on interest deductibility. But look for Republicans (at least those in the House) to begin ramping up fresh efforts to expand and improve the monumental tax overhaul.

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2111, 2017

Tax Reform and Innovation – Good News and a Cloud

By |November 21st, 2017|Tax Reform Watch|Comments Off on Tax Reform and Innovation – Good News and a Cloud

November 21, 2017
By Rick Lazio, alliantgroup Senior Vice President
The Hill

The chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and the chairman of the Finance Committee, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) as well as the White House have recognized that the current level of economic growth is unacceptable and that tax reform must encourage a stronger economy and faster growth.

To their credit, the tax reform proposals put forward by Brady and Hatch do much to spark increased economic growth – with bonus depreciation/expensing of business equipment encouraging investments in new equipment that will enhance productivity and result in higher wages for workers. Reduced productivity has been a disappointment this past recovery, and encouraging higher productivity in the future will be the key to a higher standard of living. In addition, the […]

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611, 2017

Paul Ryan’s moment: Tax talk is over, and tax legislating begins

By |November 6th, 2017|Tax Reform Watch|0 Comments

alliantgroup’s Dean Zerbe Quoted in the Washington Examiner

The takeoff may have been rocky, but the Republican tax reform is off the ground.
Nine months into President Trump’s tenure, House Republicans have finally introduced legislation to try to put tax reform on his desk. Now, they aim to ram it through Congress in just two months, a near-impossible task that could define the legacies of House Speaker Paul Ryan, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, and perhaps Trump himself.

In the days and then hours before finalizing the bill, House Republicans negotiated among themselves, rewrote the bill, bargained among themselves, and rewrote it again. In considering last-minute changes to taxes that will reshape entire sectors of the economy, House Republicans provided a preview of the hard choices, horse-trading, bargaining, and sacrifices […]

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311, 2017

Tax reform bill leaves tax preparers plenty of work to do | Accounting Today

By |November 3rd, 2017|Tax Reform Watch|0 Comments

alliantgroup’s Dean Zerbe Quoted in Accounting Today

While it aims at some level of tax simplification, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act released on Thursday by the House Ways and Means Committee gives tax preparers plenty to talk about with their clients, offering rate cuts, eliminating familiar deductions, adding and expanding credits, and removing the estate tax and the Alternative Minimum Tax.

But it’s still a bill, not a law. “It’s another step in the process – a significant one, of course, but we don’t know where the Senate is on this, and there are still members of the House that may not support it,” said Todd Simmens, a partner at BDO and former staff member of the Joint Committee on Taxation.

Even if the bill is enacted in much the same […]

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3110, 2017

Tax reform eve

By |October 31st, 2017|Tax Reform Watch|0 Comments

Tax reform eve

T-MINUS ONE DAY: House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) is scheduled to drop his eagerly anticipated tax bill in just one day, and there’s still a lot of frenzy surrounding the House GOP’s efforts.

In fact, you’d be excused for thinking the House Republican tax writers are having something like a last-minute cram session today. Ways and Means Republicans are supposed to start huddling early this morning, and meet into the evening as Brady and company try to put the finishing touches on their tax overhaul. The Ways and Means chairman, along with Speaker Paul Ryan, is then […]

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2310, 2017

White House signals flexibility on tax bill as Congress gets to work

By |October 23rd, 2017|Tax Reform Watch|0 Comments

alliantgroup’s Dean Zerbe Quoted in The Washington Examiner
The Trump administration negotiated with congressional Republicans for nine months over a shared platform for an overhaul of the tax code. With Congress finally moving toward legislation, however, the White House last week signaled that it would be willing to accept big changes to get a bill passed as soon as possible.

The must-haves for the administration are that the bill cuts taxes for the middle class and includes a 20 percent corporate tax rate, top Trump economic adviser Gary Cohn said at a meeting of international bankers. Trump will be “very flexible on everything else, ’cause he knows the importance of getting tax reform done.”

Ultimately, there may even be wiggle room on the corporate tax rate, which would still be below the […]

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1610, 2017

TheHill: Trump, GOP play defense in middle-class tax cut pitch

By |October 16th, 2017|Tax Reform Watch|0 Comments

alliantgroup’s Dean Zerbe Quoted in The Hill

The Trump administration is pushing back against criticism from Democrats that its tax-reform plan will be a boon for the rich, casting the GOP bid to slash corporate taxes as a win for workers.

The White House has reason to worry that arguments made by Democrats and other critics are resonating. A CBS News poll released Sunday found 58 percent believe Republicans’ tax proposals would favor the wealthy, with just 18 percent saying it would favor the middle class.

President Trump emphasized the middle class in comments on the tax effort on Monday.

“We want to make sure that the middle class is the biggest beneficiary of the tax cuts and tax reform,” Trump said in remarks to reporters.
He also said his efforts are focused […]

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2707, 2017

alliantgroup’s Dean Zerbe Applauds Joint Statement on Tax Reform

By |July 27th, 2017|Tax Reform Watch|0 Comments

alliantgroup’s Dean Zerbe Applauds Joint Statement on Tax Reform

HOUSTON, TX (7/27/17) –  Dean Zerbe, the National Managing Director of alliantgroup and former Senior Counsel to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee responded to the administration and congressional leadership’s joint statement on tax reform.

“For American businesses that want to see tax reform and tax relief, today’s joint statement from Congress and the White House is most welcome. I particularly viewed as key the direction that the two tax-writing Committees – Ways and Means and Finance – are directed to go through regular order (meaning Committee markup) and move legislation this fall followed by consideration on the floor.  There needs to be marching orders and timelines to provide focus and get tax reform moving, and the statement […]

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2507, 2017

alliantgroup’s Rick Lazio Interviewed by TheStreet

By |July 25th, 2017|Tax Reform Watch|0 Comments

Rick Lazio Interviewed by TheStreet

On July 18th, alliantgroup Senior Vice President and former U.S. Congressman Rick Lazio was interviewed by TheStreet on the current prospects for tax reform in light of the GOP’s stalled healthcare legislation.
Here are a few key takeaways from that segment:

  1. The healthcare bill efforts and other pending legislative items have pushed out the timeline for comprehensive tax reform.

With the healthcare bill stalling and with Congress needing to address more immediate legislative priorities such as the debt ceiling and a new budget resolution, Rick forecasted that the timeline for tax reform […]

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1206, 2017

alliantgroup’s Dean Zerbe Published in Forbes

By |June 12th, 2017|Tax Reform Watch|0 Comments

Dean Zerbe Published in Forbes

Dean Zerbe, alliantgroup’s National Managing Director and the former Senior Counsel to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, was published in Forbes covering a number of potential reforms to the Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credit.

In his article “The R&D Tax Credit – Smart Reform Ideas From Congress,” Zerbe reviews a number of intriguing congressional proposals that would strengthen and expand access to the credit. In particular, Zerbe highlights bipartisan tax legislation recently introduced by Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and Pat Roberts (R-KS) that would reward companies for conducting their research and development and manufacturing activities here in the United States. In addition to this Senate bill, Zerbe breaks down bipartisan House legislation designed to increase taxpayer flexibility when claiming […]

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