Republicans plan to delay overhauling the tax code in order to keep the political heat on President Barack Obama's healthcare problems.
Even House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, who has spearheaded moves to simplify the tax code, is accepting that it is now unlikely to move forward this year,
The Hill reports.
Camp told reporters he still hopes to keep
his year-old pledge to send tax overhaul legislation out of his committee this year, but accepts there are problems.
"Clearly, we lost time with the shutdown," Camp admitted. "That was three weeks I'd like to have back. So we have to adjust, given changing circumstances."
The Michigan Republican is meeting House Republican leaders Thursday to discuss its prospects for the current legislative calendar, which ends in three weeks.
He wants an extensive overhaul of tax policy that would curtail tax breaks, cut the top individual rate from 39.6 percent to 25 percent, and reduce the top corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent.
Camp has dedicated the past three years to tax reform, and for months has been working to build support for change
with Democrat Sen. Max Baucus, the Senate Finance Committee chairman.
Camp's approach "is pretty straightforward: If Congress eliminates unnecessary deductions, closes loopholes, and scraps superfluous tax giveaways, the result will be a simpler, streamlined tax code that produces more revenue,"
according to Steve Benen of MSNBC.
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