House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) said Nov. 20 that he envisions the tax-writing panel dual-tracking health care legislation and a plan to overhaul the tax system that includes repeal of the alternative minimum tax.

"I think we can do two things at once," Rangel told reporters in his office. "I don't see anything that would derail that. I think that's the practical way to go."

With President-elect Obama wanting to move health care reform early in his term and the Senate Finance and Health, Education, Labor and Pension committees already gearing up for next year, Rangel said his panel would be actively involved because health care reform cannot be done without changes to the Internal Revenue Code.

So much of what Obama wants to do, Rangel said, "is going to be dependent on taxes." Rangel, who expressed excitement about having a Democrat in the White House while both chambers of Congress are under Democratic control, was repeatedly deferential to the president-elect and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), saying, "It seems to me that their direction is consistent with where I would want to go."

He said he would not be docile but, with Democrats in charge, their goals are similar and they will work together to find the most effective way of moving legislation.

Changes to Top Marginal Rate

Obama has discussed raising the top marginal income tax rate from 35 percent to 39.6 percent but Rangel would not commit to a certain percentage increase. Asked if Democrats should be sensitive to the overall economy, even on potential tax increases on the rich, Rangel said, "You bet your life." Rangel said he would have to do his homework before deciding when to raise the rates and whether lawmakers should simply raise it by 4.6 percentage points or phase in the increase.

Comprehensive Tax Reform Bill

Thirteen months ago Rangel introduced a revenue-neutral $1.3 trillion tax overhaul plan (H.R. 3970) that sought to drop the corporate tax reform rate from 35 percent to 30.5 percent, repeal the AMT and replace it with a surtax on the rich, and make dozens of other changes to the tax code (207 DTR GG-1, 10/26/07).

Rangel said his plan for 2009 is to try again to seek consensus on both individual and corporate tax reform and, unlike the present administration, he hopes Obama's officials will give him feedback and work with him on a plan (216 DTR G-5, 11/8/07).

Rangel also said he could see taking the corporate tax rate down to 28 percent but that "it would take the courage of those corporate people to support who would be getting the tax increases" and who would bear the brunt of "closing loopholes" to pay for it.

Regarding the AMT, Rangel said "It's got to go," and called it the center of his reform bill. "I hope I can persuade somebody on the committee that not taking care of AMT and trying to pass it off year by year is far more costly than finding the money to take care of it now," Rangel said. "AMT is the heart of my reform bill. That's where we start."