22. Department of the Treasury · Major · Needs Congress
Enact a two-rate individual income tax of 15 and 30 percent
Printed page 696 22. Department of the Treasury
“The Treasury should work with Congress to simplify the tax code by enacting a simple two-rate individual tax system of 15 percent and 30 percent that eliminates most deductions, credits and exclusions. The 30 percent bracket should begin at or near the Social Security wage base to ensure the combined income and payroll tax structure acts as a nearly flat tax on wage income beyond the standard deduction.”
What has happened
- Not started
Congress moved the other way: section 70101 of Public Law 119-21 made the seven-bracket rate schedule of section 1(j) permanent (striking "and before January 1, 2026"), locking in 10/12/22/24/32/35/37 percent rather than replacing it with a two-rate 15/30 percent system. No deduction-clearing flat-tax bill advanced, and the act added deductions (tips, overtime, car-loan interest, senior) rather than eliminating them.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
- Read section 70101 of the enrolled text: it amends IRC section 1(j) by striking the 2025 sunset and re-heading the subsection “Beginning After 2017”. That is the opposite of the Mandate’s ask, so the item is recorded not started with the contrary action dated, per the convention in the Chapter 10 log.
- Sections 70201–70203 (“No tax on tips”, “No tax on overtime”, “No tax on car loan interest”) and 70103/70110 add or preserve targeted deductions; the Mandate’s ask was to eliminate “most deductions, credits and exclusions”.
- Nothing in the Federal Register, the White House presidential-actions file, or Treasury’s press index proposes a two-rate structure. Treasury’s own account of the law (“A Look at the First-Year Results of the Working Families Tax Cuts”, 2026-07-02) describes bracket relief inside the existing schedule.
- Action
- restrict
- Object
- individual income tax rate structure
- ID
- 1920