Camp added that the GOP would “look at the various deductions, loopholes, tax expenditures, preferences, whatever you want to call them; it’s very important that we address that.”
For his part, Rep. Sandy Levin (D-Mich.), the ranking member on Ways and Means, said the GOP ideas would raise taxes on the middle class while decreasing them for the wealthy. “We need tax reform, not loose talk from Republicans about reducing the top individual rate to 25 percent,” Levin said in a statement.
The GOP rollout comes after Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the House majority leader, and Rep. Kevin Brady, a senior member of Ways and Means, have pushed for a so-called repatriation holiday that would allow multinationals to bring profits stored abroad into the U.S. at a reduced tax rate.
{mosads}Cantor and Brady have envisioned the holiday as sort of a bridge to tax reform, but Camp said Thursday that he would rather look at treatment of offshore profits within the broader tax reform discussion.
“Repatriation is an important idea. I’m for it. I think it’s also going to be an important part of fundamental tax reform,” Camp said.
The Treasury Department has said that it would look at repatriation only in the overall reform talks.
Still, WIN America Campaign, a group pushing for a tax holiday, said in a statement they thought the GOP plan was a sign their side was gaining momentum.