WASHINGTON — Leaders of the Senate Finance Committee have given their tax-reform working groups more time to do their work.
The groups had been tasked with submitting tax reform recommendations by the end of the month.
But committee chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and ranking minority member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said late Thursday that they plan to create a new timeline for the working groups after the Memorial Day recess.
"After receiving valuable feedback from our working group co-chairs on how they need more time to produce constructive results, we feel it is prudent to allow additional time so that they can continue their work," Hatch and Wyden said. "It is our hope these bipartisan working groups will use this extended time to finalize their recommendations for tax reform and produce in-depth analyses of options and potential legislative solutions."
The working groups were created in January and are analyzing current tax law and examining policy trade-offs and reform options within their topic areas. They are supposed to deliver reports with recommendations to Hatch and Wyden, and the recommendations are intended to aid in the development of tax-reform legislation.
There are five working groups: individual income tax, business income tax, savings and investment, international tax and community development and infrastructure. The last of the groups has bonds in its jurisdiction and is co-chaired by Sens. Dean Heller, R-Nev. and Michael Bennet, D-Colo.
Stakeholders were given the opportunity to send the working groups comments, and dozens from across the municipal bond market submitted comments in support of the muni tax exemption and/or easing bond restrictions. Additionally, an official with a Bond Dealers of America member group met with staff for the community development and infrastructure group, and Treasury Department officials including John Cross have met with the group and touched on bond proposals in President Obama's fiscal 2016 budget proposal.
