TEI Issues Guideposts for Tax Policy in 117th Congress.

• Author: McLeish, Watson M.
• Position: Tax Executives Institute

Welcome to the latest installment of Advocacy Agenda, a periodic column that aims to share select insights and observations of interest to TEI members about the tax policy advocacy environment in Washington, D.C. Over the past three years, the historic tax reforms enacted in Public Law 115-97, colloquially known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), inspired many TEI members to become more involved in the Institutes advocacy activities at the federal level.

The reason I say three years instead of four is important: the unprecedented speed with which the TCJA was enacted in 2017 effectively precluded any meaningful engagement in the legislative process.1 Accordingly, the overwhelming focus of TEI's TCJA-related advocacy activity has been on influencing the law's interpretation and implementation through sustained engagement in the regulatory process. The result, I believe, is a substantial contribution to the administrative record on behalf of corporate taxpayers and the in-house tax professionals who support them.

Fast-forward to today, and the entire paradigm appears to have changed. A new Democratic president and a Congress controlled by Democrats have already outlined a pair of major business tax reform plans, either of which has the potential to materially disrupt the post-TCJA US international tax system. Unlike in 2017, the prospect for meaningful, substantive engagement in the emerging legislative process appears to be relatively strong.

For better or worse, this summer and fall are increasingly likely to be a time of historic consequence for US federal tax policy--and one in which TEI is prepared to play a role.

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of working with the leaders of TEI's Tax Reform Task Force to develop and refine TEI's new Guideposts for Tax Policy, which are reprinted below. These guideposts are intended to articulate TEI's three most important and broadly applicable principles of sound tax policy to inform the burgeoning tax reform debate in Washington, D.C. More important, they provide a solid foundation to support TEI engagement during this critical time. Please see below.

TEI Guideposts for Tax Policy

As the preeminent association of in-house tax professionals worldwide, Tax Executives Institute (TEI) is pleased to present our Guideposts for Tax Policy--a series of priority principles intended to inform the tax policymaking process in the 117th Congress and the Biden administration. TEI members are responsible for administering the tax affairs of their companies and must contend daily with the provisions of the tax law relating to the operation of business enterprises. The diversity and experience of our membership enables TEI to bring a...