To the Editor:

For decades, leaders in Washington D.C., have ignored the needs of middle-class Americans and small businesses through inaction on issues such as tax reform. After 30 years, it is time for the federal government to reform our convoluted, unfair, and burdensome tax code.

Comprehensive tax reform could help renew the American economy and rebuild a strong middle-class—if we get it right. An updated tax code should be simple and fair, be free of loopholes for big corporations, and set a fair tax rate so that small businesses have a real opportunity to grow and compete.

First, tax reform must lower our sky-high corporate tax rate, which is the highest in the industrialized world. Second, we must also update the tax code to stop it from unfairly favoring big businesses over small. And third, we must greatly shorten and simplify the tax code so there aren’t such large costs—in both time and money—simply to comply with and file taxes.

Our own U.S. Representative Brian Babin has continually expressed the need to curb government spending and provide tax relief to small businesses to revitalize the American economy. It is my hope that Congress and the new Administration seize this opportunity and deliver comprehensive tax reform in 2017.

Sheila Faske
Rose City