Discusses Impact of Tax Reform on Closely-Held Businesses
(Washington, DC) March 7, 2012 – Stefan Tucker, one of Venable’s senior tax attorneys, testified Wednesday before the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee as the Committee examined how the tax code affects closely-held businesses in particular, and how tax reform might improve their ability to grow and create jobs. The Committee is considering how and under which sets of rules closely-held entities should be taxed, as well as general burdens imposed on closely-held businesses such as high compliance costs and tax rates.
Mr. Tucker, who has practiced in this field for nearly 50 years, specializes in advising closely-held businesses, from the inception to the end. He noted that such business owners have four major areas of concern in common: growing their businesses – specifically, capital access and capital formation; protecting their personal assets from business risks; protecting the business and its personnel from adversity; and business succession.
Federal tax policy impacts all four of these concerns, he noted, suggesting that the Committee consider four fundamental reforms of the tax system which would enable owners of closely-held businesses to concentrate on what they do best – running their businesses.
The reforms suggested by Mr. Tucker include: A Single Tax Regime for All Electing Entities; An Entity Level Tax for Non-Electing Entities with Dividends Paid Deductions; Simplified Compensation Rules; and Tax Rate Parity.
According to Mr. Tucker, adopting these four reforms would provide closely-held businesses with the assurances they need to build their businesses and remain a vibrant sector of the U.S. economy.
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