First Move on Tax Reform

The White House took its first step on what’s bound to be a long and bumpy road: Tax reform. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner met with finance officials from nearly 20 companies to discuss corporate tax rates. The chief financial officer of Cisco called the meeting a “fruitful dialogue with the administration and Congress on how to level the playing field for American businesses through a more modern tax code.” Though tax reform has been hailed as a potential bipartisan project, getting Democrats and Republicans to agree on the details will be difficult. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, praised Geithner’s meeting while warning the administration not to increase taxes, and another prominent Republican told the White House not to view tax reform as a way to raise revenue. Corporate tax reform might be more manageable than comprehensive reform, but still, cautioned Valerie Jarrett, “It is going to take some time, it is going to be complicated, and it has to be an inclusive process.”