WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) today joined a group of his colleagues in a letter to President Donald Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Chairman of the Finance Committee, to outline key priorities for tax reform and offer bipartisan solutions that support working people in Maine and across the country.

“Comprehensive, bipartisan tax reform is long overdue, and call me an optimist, but I think the time is right to work together on this,” Senator King said. “The Democratic and Republican caucuses might not be able to agree to every approach to tax reform, but I do think that if we start the process by listening to each other, by putting a bill through committee, and by holding hearings, we’ll reach a better outcome for the American taxpayer.”

The letter outlined three key policy priorities: the legislation must provide tax relief for middle-class families without new breaks for the richest one percent; the tax changes must be fiscally responsible and not endanger critical programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security; and the process should return to “regular order” that includes public hearings and precludes the use of “budget reconciliation” rules like those that were included in the attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

In addition to Senator King, the letter was signed by Senators Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Bob Casey, Jr. (D-Pa.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.).

The text of the letter is below and can be read in full HERE.

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August 1, 2017

Dear President Trump, Leader McConnell, and Chairman Hatch:

We are writing to express our interest in working with you on bipartisan tax reform.  We are confident that, by working together, we could modernize our tax system to increase working families’ wages, improve middle-class job growth, promote domestic investment, modernize our outdated business and international tax systems and put in place sound fiscal policy that raises the revenue needed to meet the needs of our country.

This letter highlights three key principles that we believe are prerequisites to any bipartisan tax reform effort.

First, we believe that tax reform should not increase the tax burden on the middle class.  In addition, any reform effort should not benefit the wealthiest individuals, who have already seen outsized benefits from recent economic gains while working-class wages have remained stagnant.  Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin expressed support for this principle when he stated before the Finance Committee that there would be “no absolute tax cut for the upper class.” We hope you agree. Tax reform cannot be a cover story for delivering tax cuts to the wealthiest.  We will not support any tax reform plan that includes tax cuts for the top one percent.  

Second, we believe it is crucial that tax reform legislation go through regular order and not reconciliation.  Using a fast-track process like reconciliation would undoubtedly result in outsized political influence on the process and significantly hinder lawmakers’ ability to close loopholes and end special interest favoritism that plagues our current tax system. As such, reconciliation is just a tool to jam through partisan short-term tax cuts that would result in economic uncertainty and instability and significantly increase our budget deficit. This stands in stark contrast to the regular order, transparent, and fiscally responsible process that allowed the 1986 tax reform to succeed and endure.  Only regular order allows for a bipartisan effort and successful, lasting reform.

Third, tax reform should be focused on providing a revenue base that meets the needs of our country.  Deep cuts to our corporate, individual, and other tax rates are very costly.  We will not support any effort to pass deficit-financed tax cuts, which would endanger critical programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and other public investments in the future.

We look forward to working together to write tax reform legislation that provides real relief for America’s working families.

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