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On Tax Day, Rep. Tom Reed put the spotlight on an issue he sees moving in the right direction in the House of Representatives: comprehensive tax reform.

“Each year at tax time, families and small businesses find themselves spending billions of hours and billions of dollars trying to file their taxes,” Reed said. “A simpler, fairer tax code achieved through comprehensive tax reform will help create a stronger economy – one that keeps money in the pockets of taxpayers, not a federal government with a spending problem.”

Americans spend more than $160 billion and about 6 billion hours annually to comply with the 70,000-page tax code.

Reed highlighted recent efforts of the Ways and Means Committee as the Committee wraps up work on its eleven tax reform working groups. “As we move into the next phase of comprehensive tax reform, the input from stakeholders, academics and think tanks, practitioners in the field and the general public the working groups gathered will act as a guide for lawmakers and provide transparency to taxpayers.”

Rep. Reed brought tax relief efforts from the federal level to the local level last month when his office participated in a “Free File” tax event to highlight a free, safe, and easy way to file taxes online. Reed says his aim is to be a resource for taxpayers and to make the annual process less onerous. 

“What we came away with from the event was that families want to be able to sit down in their homes and file their own taxes,” Reed continued. “We want to provide a service that frees up pressure on taxpayers but more importantly, puts more of their own money back in their pockets.”

“With a simpler, fairer, less costly tax code that eliminates special interest loopholes, families will be able to save more of their hard-earned money and employers will have the opportunity to hire and invest in their businesses. At the end of the day, I see the House moving in the right direction toward that goal.”

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