
The House Ways and Means Build Back Better Bill Is a First Step Toward a Fairer Tax Code
The Ways and Means Committee’s tax reforms take important steps toward tax fairness; Congress should do more.
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Seth Hanlon is a senior fellow at American Progress, where he focuses on federal tax and budget policy.
Prior to rejoining American Progress, he served as special assistant to the president for economic policy at the White House National Economic Council, where he coordinated the Obama administration’s tax policy. He has also served as senior tax counsel for the House Budget Committee Democratic staff under former ranking member Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and as tax counsel for Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), a senior Finance Committee member, among other Capitol Hill roles. He was the Director of Fiscal Reform during a prior stint at American Progress and an associate attorney at Caplin & Drysdale, Chartered.
Hanlon has testified before Congress, and his work has been cited in the Financial Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and other publications. He has been featured in CNBC, NPR, C-SPAN and other outlets to discuss tax issues.
Hanlon received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and his J.D. from Yale Law School.
The Ways and Means Committee’s tax reforms take important steps toward tax fairness; Congress should do more.
Requiring more information from financial institutions will help catch and deter tax cheats while reducing audits of honest taxpayers.
Raising the debt limit merely allows the United States to make good on obligations it has already incurred, and defaulting on those obligations would be catastrophic.
Biden’s Build Back Better plan addresses key failings of the U.S. tax system that let the wealthy and corporations avoid paying their fair share; Congress can and should do even more.
ProPublica revealed that billionaires are paying virtually no tax. Congress can address the problem by adopting President Biden’s proposals on capital gains and stepped-up basis.
Congress should help pay for national investments by making the wealthy and corporations pay the taxes they already owe.
President Biden’s FY 2022 budget request must address years of cuts and underinvestment in critical government functions.
Cash benefits and tax cuts provided through the ARPA will help lay the groundwork for a rapid economic recovery.
A repeal of the Affordable Care Act through the courts would be a massive transfer of money from low- and moderate-income Americans to high-income Americans.
Congress should close—not expand—capital gains loopholes and tax income from wealth the same as income from work.