About $700 billion in taxes remain in place as a result of lawmakers' failure to repeal Obamacare — complicating Republicans push for tax reform, the Washington Examiner reported.
GOP lawmakers, who oppose the taxes, are faced with the problem of how to eliminate them without adding to the deficit. Doing away with the taxes also would mean doing away with a proportionate amount of tax breaks, which would likely spark fierce opposition, according to the Examiner.
"It kind of creates a hole or a negative in trying to have a revenue-neutral tax reform bill," said Saul Rudo, the national head of tax planning at Katten Muchin Rosenman.
One of the taxes in question specially applies to individuals, the Examiner reports. However, it also hits businesses filing through the individual side of the code.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, who will be writing the tax code overhaul would like to eliminate the taxes, but haven't said how the needed revenues could be replaced.
Meanwhile, Hatch is insisting he wants the focus to be on tax reform and not healthcare, Politico noted.
"We're not going back to healthcare," he said. "We're in tax now. As far as I'm concerned, they shot their wad on healthcare and that's the way it is. I'm sick of it."
And Sen. Tim Scott of, R-S.C., added: "What we ought to focus on is how we cut taxes in such a way that the average person in our country who has not experienced this recovery has more money in their accounts at the end of the week or the end of the month. That's what we should focus on, and I think we'll have some success there."
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