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Boustany: Big tax overhaul may include repeal of health law's taxes
Comprehensive tax reform will probably be the venue for any effort to repeal taxes in President Obama's healthcare law, Rep. Charles Boustany (R-La.) said Tuesday.
Boustany, a member of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, said a major overhaul of the tax code could include efforts to repeal some of the healthcare law's new fees, including taxes on medical devices and health insurance plans.
"Any tax measures will be considered, most likely, in the context of fundamental tax reform," Boustany told reporters after a hearing on the healthcare law's tax provisions.
But the likelihood of repealing specific healthcare taxes will likely depend on the prospects for much broader bipartisan agreement.
"A number of them have bipartisan support, and I think at the end of the day we'll have to gauge the level of bipartisan support we have for full tax reform," Boustany said.
He added that Ways and Means has the "full backing" of GOP leadership for a comprehensive overhaul.
He also echoed what Republicans have long said about a comprehensive tax overhaul — it can't raise any new revenue for the federal government. Comprehensive tax reform must be "revenue neutral," Boustany said, meaning that closing loopholes or limiting deductions must be accompanied by lower rates or other provisions that would cost the government money.
"We're going to look at the business side, the corporate side, and the individual side — these will be separate areas that we look for revenue neutrality within each area," Boustany said. "We're not going to take from one to basically fund the other, or cover the other."
Repealing any of the healthcare law's taxes would increase the deficit. The device tax is set to generate about $20 billion over the next decade, while the tax on insurance plans will raise roughly $100 billion.
