POLITICS/TAXES: “Trump administration officials pressed an accelerated timeline Monday [7-31-17] for advancing a major tax bill this fall along with ambitious goals for the bill’s contents.
Background work on the legislation will happen during August in preparation for committee action in September, a House floor vote in October and a Senate vote in November, Marc Short, the White House director of legislative affairs, said at an event in Washington.
Mr. Short’s comments are part of a coordinated effort by White House officials and business groups to turn the country’s focus to tax policy, persuade Americans that the issue should be a priority and argue that the administration’s plan would yield faster economic growth.
‘This is about creating jobs,’ Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said at the event, which was sponsored by Freedom Partners and Americans for Prosperity, advocacy groups associated with the Koch family of wealthy industrialists. ‘This is about creating wage growth. This is about a simpler and fairer tax system.’
The Koch family, active in conservative politics, largely stayed on the sidelines during the presidential election, but its groups are now spending millions of dollars to support the GOP tax agenda.”
-Richard Rubin, “White House Pushes Aggressive Tax-Overhaul Schedule,” The Wall Street Journal online, July 31, 2017 06:15pm