House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Kevin Brady said Thursday that the Republican tax reform plan was developed because "the American people are sick of the current tax code."
"They've had it up to here," Brady, the former Texas congressman, told Wolf Blitzer on CNN. "It's complicated. It's unfair.
"It takes too much of what they earned — and they get nothing but headaches.
"My belief is America's ready for a fresh new tax code that grows their paychecks," Brady said.
The House proposal slashes the corporate tax rate, lowers taxes for most Americans, despite limiting the deduction for homeowners and adding $1.5 trillion to the nation's debt over the next decade.
Middle-income families would pay less, because of a doubling of the standard deduction and an increase in the child tax credit.
Wealthy Americans would benefit from the repeal of the alternative minimum tax and phase-out of the estate tax.
Brady beat back suggestions Republicans were punishing taxpayers in high-tax states, many of whom voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton, by eliminating the state tax deduction.
"This isn't a red-state, blue-state thing," he told Blitzer. "We want families . . . to be better off after tax reform.
"We restored the state and local property deductions because we were listening to congressman and others in these high-tax states."
Brady said he hoped Democrats supported the tax plan, referencing President Donald Trump's comment earlier Thursday that "all Democrats are united against fixing this broken tax code.
"I don't know who defends it," he said. "It is so unfair. It takes way too much of what people earn — and our jobs are shipping overseas and have for a decade.
"Who really defends that?
"I'm so hopeful they engage in a positive way, because we think they bring the ideas to the table."
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