The Hill News

The second-ranking House Democrat said he wants to work on tax reform in the next two years, and argued that now's the best time to do so.

Rep. Steny Hoyer (Md.), who will serve as Democrats' minority whip in the next Congress, said he had approached the Republican who will serve as chairman of the tax-writing committee in the next Congress to raise the issue of tax reform.

"I want to look at tax reform," Hoyer said in a video interview with the Wall Street Journal, later adding: "I think this is the environment to do it."

The No. 2 Democrat's remarks come on Friday after the Democratic-controlled House approved a two-year extension of the expiring Bush tax cuts in an early-morning vote.

The tax deal, which was proposed by President Obama, would seem to extend the cuts just long enough that they would become a political issue again in the 2012 elections -- unless, of course, lawmakers authorize a comprehensive tax reform package before then.

Hoyer suggested that Congress should look to the tax reform recommendations offered by the president's fiscal commission, which called for the elimination of a number of loopholes, while also bringing down rates across income brackets.

Obama has suggested that tax reform is an idea that interests him, and the New York Times reported earlier this month that the administration is considering reform as an area in which they could find common ground with congressional Republicans, who will take control of the House on Jan. 5.

A Republican-held House presented the perfect opportunity for tax reform, Hoyer said.

"I frankly think the only time you can do tax reform is when you have responsibility divided," he said. "Because when you don't divide responsibility, you have one party that has no political reason to support the majority party's making tough decisions."

The second-ranking Democrat said he had approached Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), the incoming chairman of the House Ways and Means ! Committee, to begin a conversation about tax reform, as well.

"I talked to Dave Camp...and said, Dave, I'd like to sit down with you and talk about about seeing if we can put together a bipartisan coalition, with the president of the United States, who said he wants to visit tax reform, to see if we can get from where we are...to a much more efficient, effective system that has lower rates, and eliminates the tax games that people play," Hoyer explained.

In addition to tax reform, Hoyer said he had two other agenda items in the coming Congress: the "Make it in America" agenda, and deficit reduction.