The working groups are to submit their reports to the Finance Committee by May 2015. However, it will be surprising if this process moves quickly, if at all, this year as there is still a major partisan divide on tax reform issues.

Tax reform is high on the agenda of Congress this year. The movement started at the end of 2013 when it did not pass a tax extender bill for expiring provisions. Instead, that debate was punted to 2014 and was intended to be rolled into a broader, longer-term reform package. At the time, the chairmen of the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee, the tax-writing committees, were Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana) and Representative Dave Camp (R-Michigan), respectively. They started 2014 with p...