NADA stays involved with tax reform discussions

NADA stays involved with tax reform discussions

A delegation from NADA that included Chairman Mark Scarpelli and President Peter Welch met recently with Gary Cohn, director of the National Economic Council, and other senior staffers from the White House and the Treasury Department. NADA representatives also met briefly with Vice President Mike Pence.

The topic was an important one for all sides: tax reform! NADAês priorities are to make sure tax reform: (1) will stimulate consumer demand in the market, and (2) will reduce the cost of dealer capital so dealers can continue to drive their local economies.

NADA continues to tell the government that no matter what reform is set forth, American consumers should not be subjected to additional costs. In discussions with federal officials, NADA has discussed issues of importance to dealers: repealing the estate tax; creating a lower rate for business income from pass-through entities; lowering overall tax rates; accelerating cost recovery; eliminating the alternative minimum tax, and repealing the 12 percent federal excise tax on heavy duty trucks.

Any tax reform must, of course, go through Congress, and this Republican Congress is clearly anxious to lower tax rates. But tax reform cannot be addressed until after a health care bill, which is still on shaky ground. The reason for the order is not just preset priorities. It is that much of the funding for tax cuts would come from cuts in spending on health care, such as cutbacks on Medicaid spending. If those are not included in the final health care bill, the money for tax cuts will have to be found elsewhere.

To make sure thereês time to pass a health care bill, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has taken the unusual step of cutting the August recess short by two weeks. What the House of Representative do in the August recess remains to be seen.

On a third priority, infrastructure, Congressional work on the presidentês $1 trillion plan could continue into next year, Sen. John Thune (R-SD), chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, told reporters, according to The Hill. Itês an issue that needs addressing, but it must come behind health care and tax reform. Thune said he is waiting for a more detailed plan from the White House.