Supercommittee Member Moving Forward With Corporate Tax Reform

By Andrea Salazar

Fresh off the Congressional Supercommittee’s failure to strike a deal to reduce government spending by $1.2 trillion over the next decade, Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) is offering a plan to lower the corporate tax rate.

During an appearance Monday at the American Enterprise Institute, Portman said his plan would lower the corporate tax rate to 25 percent from its current 35 percent and create a territorial tax system that would only tax income made in the United States.

Though disappointed with the supercommittee’s inability to strike a deal to reduce the deficit, Portman, a member of the bipartisan panel, said the bright side was the influx of ideas that came out of the negotiations.

“This supercommittee process was frustrating … but we did achieve some results,” Portman said. “One was coming together as Republicans and Democrats alike and putting together at least a framework for dealing with this issue of corporate taxes. So I’m hopeful that one of the products of the committee is that Congress will now have the ability to move forward on this.”

The senator said he hopes to get bipartisan support for his proposal and said he had seen interest from both sides of the aisle during super committee negotiations, including from Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.). He will introduce the bill early next year.