U.S. Senate Finance Committee Begins Process Looking Into Revision Of U.S. Tax Code

The Finance Committee of the U.S. Senate, which has jurisdiction over tax laws, has announced the first hearings in a comprehensive effort to reform and reorganize the federal tax code for the first time since 1986.

In a joint statement, Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Ranking Minority Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), said the hearings will be first in a series this summer to examine several issues that are essential to overhauling “the nation’s broken tax code through comprehensive reform.”

“This summer, the Senate Finance Committee will forge ahead with hearings that examine reforming the broken, dysfunctional tax code in areas ranging from taxpayer privacy protection to education to corporate taxation,” the senators said.

The prospect of a wide-ranging overhaul of the tax code as it applies to timber and timberland owners is generating concern in forestry circles.  Key tax provisions in existing law affecting timberland owners include capital gain treatment of most timber sales and deductibility of some forest management expenses, including reforestation. 

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