Lawmakers Hold Tax Reform Talks at Kitchen Counter

The leaders of Congress’s two main tax committees continued their tax reform road show tour with a stop at a New Jersey small business that makes kitchen appliances.

Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and House Ways and Means Committee chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., met Monday with small business owners in the Philadelphia area to hear the challenges they face in dealing with the broken Tax Code.

“Washington is a bit of a bubble,” they said in a joint statement. “We believe it’s important to get out and meet with people one-on-one to hear their concerns. We want to know what people think about the nation’s tax system.”

Earlier this month, they visited two businesses in the St. Paul, Minn. Area (see Congressional Tax Leaders Begin Tax Reform Road Show). For the second stop on their nationwide outreach effort to promote tax reform, Baucus and Camp visited Mrs. G TV and Appliances, a third-generation, family-owned business in Lawrenceville, N.J., near Philadelphia, as well as The Hub Centers for Meeting and Collaboration in Philadelphia.

After a tour of Mrs. G’s, Baucus and Camp gathered around a countertop inside a kitchen design showroom to listen to concerns about the complexity of the individual Tax Code. Debbie Schaeffer, president of Mrs. G’s, told Baucus and Camp of the challenges she faces as a small business owner dealing with the Tax Code. Senator Baucus noted that there are 31 different definitions of a “small business” in the Tax Code.

“There may be 31 definitions of a small business in the tax code, but the real definition is right here in Lawrenceville,” Baucus said. “It is defined by the hard work and dedication by the people here at Mrs. G’s.”

Baucus and Camp plan to visit communities across the country throughout the summer to hear directly from the American people about their experience with the tax system as part of their outreach efforts on tax reform.

“The only thing people dread more than filling out tax forms is the fear that they’ll make a mistake and then be a target of an audit," said Camp. "Whether it’s for a small business like Mrs. G’s or for a family, filing taxes is expensive, time-consuming and confusing. We have an opportunity to change all that so that the Tax Code is fairer and easier to comply with—for families and businesses of all sizes.”