Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp’s Republican tax reform draft — slated to be released Wednesday afternoon — looks like it will reverse more than a decade of GOP orthodoxy on taxes by socking big banks with higher levies.
To call this development a sea change would be like calling the Grand Canyon a ditch.
For decades, Republicans have decried the smallest tax increase on businesses, arguing it would kill jobs and hurt hard-working Americans. Congressional Republicans have protected Wall Street from the tiniest of tax increases — leaving in place narrowly tailored provisions that have enriched hedge fund managers and kept bank profits high. New taxes were unthinkable.
But as Camp’s Ways and Means Committee sought to slash tax rates, it’s easy to see how banks with more than $500 billion in assets — mammoth institutions like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup — became an easy target.
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