Filling out tax forms is something that most Americans dread to do, simply because it's confusing and time consuming, and that's why the Texas congressman who heads the powerful House Ways and Means committee is defending the "postcard approach," where the entire form could be boiled down to a small piece of paper, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
"Keeping what we have is not an option. We cannot afford this slow growth status quo and the broken tax code that has perpetuated much of it," Congressman Kevin Brady told a forum Wednesday at Rice University's Baker Institute.
Congressman Brady (R-TX) says that under the tax code changes being debated in Washington, 95-percent of Americans would be able to fill out their taxes on a postcard. Not only would it save time, he said, but it would make the tax system more transparent, so that people could be certain that everybody is playing by the same rules.
There are concerns that the Republican-backed changes would only benefit wealthy Americans. Brady says the earned income tax credit would be kept alive under the postcard method.
"On those 15 total lines, we retain the earned income tax credit. We think that's an effective way to move people from welfare to work," he explains.
Brady shot back at the notion that the tax credits reward people for staying unemployed. Instead, he believes people who are helped by the EIC are trapped by the governmental programs that are supposed to help them.
As for businesses, Brady says they want to allow them to continue to write off expenses.
"People sometimes think this drive towards expensing is about encouraging a business to buy things and, while it does, it creates tax free investment in your workers."
And that, he says, drives productivity, which in turn drives higher wages. He says the changes to the tax code will close loopholes so, instead of finding tax breaks, businesses can invest resources in what will make new and better jobs.