Congressman Dave Camp (R-MI), Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced that the Committee will hold a hearing to examine the itemized deduction for charitable contributions as part of the Committee’s work on comprehensive tax reform.  The hearing will take place on Thursday, February 14, 2013, in Room 1100 of the Longworth House Office Building, beginning at 9:30… Read more

Washington, DC – Today, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) and Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee Orrin Hatch (R-UT) again called on the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to explain how the agency determined it had the unilateral authority to waive welfare work requirements first established in the historic 1996 welfare reform law.  The… Read more

Washington, DC – Today, Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) released the following statement in reaction to the January jobs report from the U.S. Department of Labor.  A net total of 157,000 jobs were created, and the unemployment rate for January increased to 7.9 percent.   “This report and the fact that GDP was negative in the 4th quarter confirms just how… Read more

The Obama Administration is once again considering a special exemption from the health care law. According to the Wall Street Journal, the new ObamaCare loophole being considered by the Obama Administration would only benefit union members, not the average American worker.  This new exemption is in addition to the over 300 union plans the President has already said do not need… Read more

In February 2009, President Obama signed the Democrats’ $1 trillion stimulus plan into law.  As shown in their infamous January 2009 Romer-Bernstein Report (officially titled “The Job Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan”), the Obama Administration predicted that with their stimulus plan the unemployment rate would remain below 8 percent and ultimately fall to 5.2… Read more

This Sunday, February 3, marks the 100 year anniversary of the Sixteenth Amendment, more commonly known as the amendment permitting the federal income tax.  This day serves as a reminder of how the income tax has changed since it was first enacted in 1913.  In recognition of the anniversary, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI), Senate Finance… Read more

The Wall Street Journal: “Don’t give up on tax reform just yet…” “Don't give up on tax reform just yet…Late last week [Ways & Means Committee Chairman Dave] Camp released the second phase of his comprehensive tax overhaul plan, this one dealing with taxation of financial services.  He says that the current tax treatment of the financial industry inefficiently ‘taxes… Read more

Today, the Obama Administration announced that they would shut down the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.  But will Americans really miss it?  When it did meet, the President largely ignored the council’s most substantive recommendations.  And now the council hasn’t met in over a year.  In fact, here’s what happened to jobs and unemployment since the… Read more

Washington, DC - Last week, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) overstepped its authority by requiring all paid preparers to register with the IRS and provide for competency testing under its Registered Tax Return Preparer Program. With the 2013 tax filing season just getting underway this week, Oversight Subcommittee… Read more

Workers, especially younger ones, have been surprised to see their pay checks shrink as the temporary payroll tax cut has gone away and they are again paying their full 6.2 percent of wages in order to fund Social Security.  To avoid further worsening Social Security’s financing challenges, under the law, the U.S. borrowed over $200 billion – in large part from foreign countries… Read more