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Jim Gadwood Comments on Removing Tax Regulations in Politico Pro Morning Tax

Subtitle
"Toss Them to the Curb"

Politico

Jim Gadwood commented on the Treasury Department's proposal to remove nearly 300 existing tax regulations, many of which are obsolete. There could be benefits from slimming down the tax code even modestly, and this regulatory effort could be followed by efforts to tackle rules that do have a significant impact on the economy, Gadwood said, but getting rid of these 298 regulations still may not allow for a benefit assumed by many in the tax community — more breathing room to write rules for the new GOP tax law. In addition, he said, there is still some uncertainty regarding about how President Trump's "two for one" executive order, which states that agencies must remove two regulations for every new one they issue, will apply to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Treasury; it also states that the costs of implementing the new regulation must be offset by the elimination of the other two. "If all the rules identified in this notice are deadwood, it would seem none of this would have any cost associated," Gadwood said. "So does that mean this would give them credit for implementing new rules? It's not clear to me that it would."