Joni Ernst Quotes

The problem with wanting the tax code to be 'simpler, fairer,' and 'pro-growth' is that it's impossible to achieve all three at the same time.

Before we start making blanket statements about abolishing the IRS, I think it's important to focus on what the tax code for the 21st century should look like.

I think we need to simplify our tax code, but not as a way of generating revenue, as a way of making our tax code more growth- friendly.

To me, there are four F's in a good tax system: it ought to be flatter, fairer, finite and family-friendly.

What we need to do is replace the entire tax code. I do not think it makes sense to say, 'Let's just grab money from, quote, the wealthy'... The issue is the tax code's rotten and we should start truly over with a simple code that is fair and transparent.

I support transitioning from the progressive tax to a flat tax system - both individual and corporate/business.

America's tax code is beyond repair. Tinkering with it won't work. The only hope is a bold tax-reform plan that will liberate our nation from the slow-growth status quo and jump-start a new era of American prosperity and growth.

I do want the tax system to be efficient and be conducive to growth, which it is not.

I think that taxes would be fair if we first get rid of the tax code.

If you can clean up the cesspool of the tax code and give us a pro-growth tax code, that is how you grow the economy. That's how you take power and money out of Washington and give it back to the people and we are so excited. We have a president [Donald Trump] that is here to work with us in doing that.

I will support a low, flat tax for businesses and individuals so that we fix the tax base and grow the economy.

To introduce a whole new tax regime, that would be modern tax reform. But that's too big a task.

It is easy to talk about tax simplification, and we all know it is very difficult to accomplish; but for the last three Congresses, I have offered a tax simplification bill that would include a paid-for repeal of alternative minimum tax.

Today the Internal Revenue Code constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. A flat tax would be an enormous step forward.

One of the high spots of the decade for me was offering the bill which culminated in the tax act of 1986, which brought rates down. That was the most difficult problem to solve: how to make the tax system of the United States more fair. We tried to make it simpler, but we failed on that one.

I think we should have basically the same tax policy that Germany, Japan, the U.K., everybody else has, which is a tax rate in the mid-20s and no loopholes. Zero. The U.S. has the most antiquated tax system. And that means some people are going to pay more taxes, and some people are going to pay less.

In fact, the best thing we could do on taxes for all Americans is to simplify the individual tax code. This will be a tough job, but members of both parties have expressed an interest in doing this, and I am prepared to join them.

I think we can have some tax reform, but that doesn't mean tax increases. We ought to make the, the rates flatter. We ought to get rid of a bunch of those loopholes.

We spend millions of dollars every year just for the right to pay our taxes, but once again, do we really need to do that? Why don't we simplify it? And I've certainly looked at fair tax, I've looked at flat tax, and if I get to the U.S. Senate, I'd like to review that.

I think that taxes would be fair if we first get rid of the tax code. This is the ultimate solution, not to just say we're going to trim around the edges, not to say that we will try to simplify a little of this and a little of that. The problem is, replace the tax code, so we can establish tax fairness for everybody.

Rather than passing a thousand pages of tax reform legislation and restarting the tax code manipulation process, we should change the paradigm. It is time to eliminate the IRS and repeal the 16th Amendment.

The key to revenue growth is tax reform that closes loopholes and that is pro-growth. Then with a growing economy, that's where your revenue growth comes in, not from higher taxes.

Everybody gets ticked off about GE paying no taxes. Look, we have a complicated, convoluted tax system. And only big corporations and wealthy individuals like Warren Buffett can take advantage of it. We need to simplify and flatten the code, get rid of all the loopholes.

The Tax Code today is more complicated than ever, and the very people on the Republican side who denounce the Tax Code's complexity are the ones that put together what they now call a convoluted monstrosity. They put it into effect.

We need to lower tax rates for everybody, starting with the top corporate tax rate. We need to simplify the tax code. The ultimate answer, in my opinion, is the fair tax, which is a fair tax for everybody, because as long as we still have this messed-up tax code, the politicians are going to use it to reward winners and losers.