This Week In Washington, Representative Ron Kind On Healthcare, Taxes, And More

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• This Week In Washington – October 18, 2017

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  Paul Singer, Washington correspondent for USA Today, joins us to recap the week’s biggest stories in national politics–including the withdrawal of a candidate for the top drug enforcement job in the nation.

• U.S. Representative Ron Kind On Tax Reform, Healthcare, And Other Issues Facing The Nation

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  Congressional Republicans are saying that tax reform is coming, after failing to pass a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act. House Speaker Paul Ryan from Janesville said Congress will stay until Christmas to get tax reform done. We get reaction from U.S. Representative Ron Kind, a Democrat from Wisconsin’s Third District, which includes La Crosse. We also ask the member of Congress about other top issues in Washington D.C., including healthcare.

  What questions do you have for Representative Kind? If you live in the Third District, what issues would you like to see him bring as priorities back to Congress? What kind of action would you like to see from Congress before the end of 2017? What kind of bipartisanship would you like to see?

  Let us know by emailing ideas@wpr.org

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• US Rep. Ron Kind Supports Tax Reform, But Not On Board With Republican Plan

  A massive tax reform bill is in the works, and House Speaker Paul Ryan is determined to pass the Republican-backed legislation by the end of the year.

  Though the proposal needs Republican support to pass, Ryan told reporters Monday he expects some Senate Democrats from Wisconsin, North Dakota and Indiana will support the bill.

  U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, a Democrat who represents Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, says he supports some level of tax reform.

  “Long overdue. I mean, it’s a complicated mess, it’s left us less competitive, unfair in many ways, it’s riddled full of special interest tax loopholes that have been included throughout the years,” Kind told WPR’s “Central Time.” “I’m all for taking a serious run at it.”

  But Kind said he’s not on board with the Republican plan, which includes broad changes to the tax code. In general, the proposal aims to lower rates for individual income tax, nearly double the standard deduction and eliminate a deduction for state and local taxes.

  It also includes some changes to the ways businesses are taxed, including lowering the corporate tax rate. Ryan says lowering corporate taxes will help keep both jobs and businesses in the United States.

  The Speaker of the House has often mentioned that the US. has one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world, at 35 percent. While that is generally true, Kind argues that most businesses don’t actually pay that rate.

  Once tax credits and deductions are factored in, U.S. businesses pay on average 18.6 percent. That rate is more relative to other countries.

  “So, I don’t think it’s so much the rate, but it’s the complexity, and it’s the loopholes that exist in it,” Kind said. “If there’s a way that we can try to simplify and streamline it to make our companies — large and small — more competitive globally, I think it’s worth an effort. But again, let’s not be fooled by the larger numbers out there. We have to see what’s actually being paid and what the effect is.”

  Kind is also concerned about how to pay for the massive tax cuts — at least $1.5 trillion — the bill proposes. Republican backers of the plan often point to trickle down economic theory, arguing that lowering the tax rate would boost the economy, therefore offsetting the loss.

  “There’s just no economic history or data to back that up,” Kind said. “…Let’s be fiscally responsible and smart if we do this, find loopholes that we can shut down to pay for the rate reduction, but let’s not leave a legacy of debt for our children and grandchildren.”