In new role, Republican Paul Ryan takes aim at tax reform
By David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Representative Paul Ryan, the leading Republican voice on fiscal policy, vowed on Wednesday to start overhauling the U.S. tax code despite Washington gridlock that he says will worsen with President Barack Obama's planned immigration order. The candidate for vice president in Mitt Romney's 2012 White House bid, Ryan was confirmed by Republicans on Wednesday as chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee overseeing government funding and taxes from January when the new Congress takes office. In an interview Ryan told Reuters that Obama's plan to relax immigration policy for as many as 5 million people was a "partisan bomb" that would hamper any effort to work with Congress on tax reform and other issues. Obama's move would be so polarizing as to make it difficult to achieve Ryan's goal of overhauling the complex U.S. tax code, Ryan said, but he was determined not to wait for a new president to make progress on tax reform. "I don't like the idea of waiting yet another two years for progress. We in Congress are going to act and we're going to move on jobs and the economy which is what people want us to work on. We're going to work on that whether we have a willing partner who wants to be bipartisan," he said. Ryan, 44, of Wisconsin, is the lone House of Representatives member viewed as a presidential contender in 2016. He is a favorite of Wall Street donors and has a record also of working with Obama's Democrats. He has raised Democrats' ire with proposals for deep cuts in federal benefits, but he and Democratic Senator Patty Murray managed to lessen budget cuts in 2014 and 2015 by forging a deal economists cite as a reason the U.S. economy has accelerated. NO TO A SHUTDOWN Ryan insisted Republicans would not shut down federal agencies despite a call from many House conservatives who want to deny funds needed to carry out Obama's immigration order. Like many other Republicans, Ryan has called for closing tax breaks that distort economic decisions and using the money to lower tax rates, which they say will boost economic growth. Ryan's predecessor as Ways and Means chairman, Dave Camp, last year floated an ambitious plan to reduce tax brackets to just three from seven now, with rates of 10, 25 and 35 percent. But the math required cutting back on popular tax breaks for long-term capital gains and dividends, mortgage interest and college tuition. It drew criticism from both parties. Broad tax reform is seen by analysts as unlikely to be achieved so long as Obama wields the veto. There may be more weight, however, behind corporate tax reform in the face of a backlash against companies moving overseas to lower tax bills. Ryan declined to discuss specifics on his plans to attack tax reform in a polarized Washington. "It's not a question of if, it's a question of when, and what I would say is it's somewhere between one and three years from getting done," he said. "The sooner the better in my mind, but we'll see what kind of atmosphere we have to work with." The last U.S. tax code overhaul was in 1986 when Republican Ronald Reagan was president and Democrats controlled the House of Representatives. Like Obama and Democrat Hillary Clinton, Ryan has written a book. But he said he would only decide next year on a run for president. "That's something I've long reserved for 2015," Ryan said. "You'll know when I know. I'll let you know." (Editing by Howard Goller)
