Camp: Tax reform needs to go beyond corporate

The House’s top tax-writer pushed back Wednesday on the Obama administration’s interest in overhauling the corporate tax code in a “fiscal cliff” deal.

Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said that a tax revamp should tackle both the corporate and individual sides.

“I just think we need to have a regular order process on tax reform that involves both corporate and individual, and that’s the best way we can address those issues,” Camp said. “And then the Congress will work its will on those issues.”

Republicans have long opposed the White House push to increase tax rates on family incomes north of $250,000 a year, at least in part because of the impact on businesses that pay taxes through the individual code. 

Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, has said President Obama's offer on corporate tax reform was a "red herring."

"We've always said you need to do both, given the way they interact," Steel said. "The issue is the individual rates because of the small business jobs impact."

Camp and other Republicans have also pushed back in recent days on corporate executives who have said they believe rate increases would need to be part of any deal to avert the broad spending cuts and tax increases set to go into effect at the end of the year. 

One of those executives, Jim McNerney of Boeing, said Wednesday that he thinks any deal should also acknowledge that corporate tax reform needs to happen next year.

"Corporate tax reform has already been agreed to on a bipartisan basis," McNerney, the chairman of the Business Roundtable, told reporters on Wednesday. "It's the least of the issues that confront us right now," he said. 

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