Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a Texas Democrat, offered the following plan on Wednesday, just hours after his party took control of the House:
“We need to give every major provision in this new tax law scrutiny that Republicans refused to provide last year. We’ve got to ask the tough questions regarding whether the value of each important provision justifies the cost of borrowing even more and incurring even more debt to pay for it.”
Lawmakers need to give “very careful oversight” to the Treasury Department’s regulations for implementing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, while also exploring how the law will affect Obamacare, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, added Doggett, who spoke with reporters during a conference call.
Doggett’s remarks come after some analysts predicted the U.S. economy won’t see a big shake up due to the results of the midterm elections, in part because the tax cuts that have helped the stock market SPX, +2.12% probably aren’t going anywhere.
But Doggett, who represents parts of Austin and San Antonio, sounded emboldened by Tuesday’s exit polls that showed a lack of enthusiasm for the tax overhaul. Some 45% of voters said they had seen no impact from it, while 23% said they’d been hurt and only 28% said they’d been helped.
“I think this is probably the most unpopular tax law in recent history,” said Doggett, who serves on the House Ways and Means Committee and is the ranking member of a subcommittee on tax policy.
