Today, Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins (KS-02) questioned witnesses at a Ways and Means Committee tax reform hearing.

(Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMDDO9tpMWU) 

The following are Congresswoman Jenkins’ questions as prepared for delivery:

Question 1:

Question for Zachary Mottl, CAO of Atlas Tool Works, on administrative complexity of the tax code and its effects on small businesses:

Mr. Mottl, I thank you for taking the time away from the family business to appear before the Committee today.  Now, I know you are from Illinois, but when I was reading your testimony, I felt like I could have been listening to the story of a small business owner at a town hall in Parsons or Atchison or any of the communities in my Congressional District in Kansas.  What really struck me was when you mentioned that for tax purposes; your company that employs 80 people has divided the company into one C-Corporation, two S-Corporations, and an LLC.  As a CPA, I would like to applaud the creativity employed by the back-office folks!  However, I think that begs the question:  Should our tax code be so administratively complicated that a business like yours should have to engage in so much work in order to achieve a workable tax rate, at the expense of growing your business?  And to be more pointed, would you trade this highly complex system, full of loopholes and surprises at every turn, for the certainty of a permanent, modern, simpler, and a fairer tax system that allows your business to grow?

Question 2:

It’s been reported that American businesses spend about 3 billion hours and $150 billion complying with our outdated, burdensome tax code.  Can you explain the costs associated with filing your returns?  What about the opportunity costs – what does it mean to your businesses to lose that kind of time and resources?