EXECUTIVE OFFEGE OF THE PRESIDENT OFFICE MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET WASHINGTON, DC. 20503 April 16, 2018 Ms. Sara Kaiser Creighton Ms. Elizabeth France Mr. John E. Bies American Oversight 1030 15th Street, NW Suite B255 Washington, DC 20005 Sent via email: RE: American Oversight v. Of?ce of Management and Budget, et. al., No. 17-2078 (DDC) Dear Mss. Creighton and France and Mr. Bies: This is in response to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests from American Oversight, which are the subject of the above-referenced matter. Speci?cally, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) received American Oversight?s FOIA requests on August 7, 2017 and assigned them the tracking numbers 2017-3 54 and 2017-355. As indicated in the parties? joint status report of December 14, 2017, OMB is making its fourth production to American Oversight. Pursuant to that report, OMB has completed its review of 500 potentially responsive documents for this production. Of those 500 potentially responsive documents, OMB identified four documents with material responsive to American Oversight?s request. We have determined that these documents are appropriate to release in part, with redactions made pursuant to 01A Exemption 6, 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(6). Exemption 6 protects against disclosure of information that would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. OMB is continuing to review records that are potentially responsive to request 2017?355 and will respond to you again on or before May 15, 2018, as indicated in the December 14 status report. Sincerely, Dionne Hard 01A Of?ce Enclosures REMINDER -TODAY: Tax Reform Special Majority Whip Staff Legislative Briefing - From: "Napier, Ben' Ex 6 - (5 U.S.C. Sec 552(b)(6)) To: "Napier, Ben" Ex 6 - (5 U.S.C. Sec Cc: "Hodgson, Chris" Ex 6 - (5 U.S.C. Sec 552(b)(6)) Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2017 09:50:11 -0500 Special Majority Whip Staff Legislative Briefing - Tax Reform February 22, 2017 I 2:00PM I HC-5 Please join us today at 2:00 p.m. in HC-5 for a Special Majority Whip Staff Legislative Briefing. Ways and Means Committee staff will be discussing Tax Reform. IDs will be checked at the door ### Majority Whip Scalise's Floor Office H-329, The Capitol Matt Bravo, Floor Director I Chris Hodgson, Deputy Floor r Ben Napier, Floor Assistant ·r I Ex 6 - (5 U.S.C.~ r I OM B-American Oversight-000007 OMB-17-0309-A-000001 Senator Cruz Tax plan From: "Babcock, Christine (Cruz)" Ex 6 - (5 U.S.C. Sec 552(b)(6)) To: "Pickitt, Kailey M. EOP/OMB" Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2017 12:42:54 -0400 Attachments: A Simple Flat Tax for Economic Growth - WSJ.pdf (249.18 kB); Ted Cruz Simple Flat Tax Plan.pdf (200.72 kB) Hi Kailey, Director Mulvaney asked that Senator Cruz pass this along during their meeting Thanks, Christine last week. OM B-American Oversight-000008 OMB-17-0309-A-000002 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers visit http:iiwww.djreprints.com http:/iwww.wsj.com/articles/a-sim ple-flat-tax-for-eco nom ic-growth-144607 6134 COMMENTARY A Simple Flat Tax for Economic Growth A 10% income tax and a 16% business tax would put an end to the Eight Lean Years of Obama. PHOTO. GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO By TED CRUZ Oct. 28, 2015 7:48 p.m. ET Imagine 4.9 million new jobs. Imagine, instead of President Obama's income stagnation, average wages rising 12.2% over the next decade. Capital investment rising 43.9%. And Americans at every level of the economy enjoying double-digit increases in after-tax income. Imagine exports and manufacturingjobs booming. The trade deficit falling as the tax bias against American-made goods is eliminated. Imagine a 10% income tax. Every American filing his or her taxes on a postcard or an iPhone app. And abolishing the IRS as we know it. All of this is possible ifwe learn from the past and follow the example of what works. In July 1981, Democrat Tip O'Neill, who was then House Speaker, drew a line in the sand: He was going to stop the Reagan tax cut, and he had enough Democrats to do it, with a 20-vote cushion. But President Reagan took his case to the people. Calls and letters flooded Congress, the speaker's 20 Democrats jumped ship, and Reagan signed the tax cut into law. President Reagan knew that after years of economic stagnation the country was ready for a big change, and he knew that he would win if the people had their say. And the people were right. The Reagan tax cut led to what the late Robert Bartley, then editor of The Wall Street Journal, dubbed Click here to receive WSJ Opinion "The Seven Fat Years"- the period from 1983headlines and commentary via email. 89 when the economy soared by an average of 4.4% a year, including one year by 7.3%. The economy grew by nearly a third, disposable income increased 20%, and 18 million new jobs were created. MORNING EDITORIAL REPORT» Meanwhile, despite lower tax rates, government revenue in the 1980s increased 27%, and the share of federal taxes paid by the top 10% rose to 56%, from 49%. OMS-American Oversight-000009 OMB-17-0309-A-000003 Now we're living through the Eight Lean Years. From 2008 to today, the economy has grown 1.2% a year on average, with the weakest postrecession recovery in 75 years. The Joint Economic Committee estimates Americans are almost $3 trillion poorer today than we would be if the economy had grown as quickly as during the Reagan years. American workers are the most creative and dynamic people in the world, if they aren't shackled by Washington. As President Reagan showed-and before him, President Kennedy in the 1960s (average annual growth of 5.3%) and Presidents Harding and Coolidge in the 1920s ( 4. 7% growth)- tax reform is a powerful lever for spurring economic expansion. Along with reducing red tape on business and restoring sound money, it can make the U.S. economy boom again. That's why I'm proposing the Simple Flat Tax as the cornerstone agenda. ofmy economic In constructing my plan, I had several requirements. The plan should: spur robust economic growth andjob creation, while raising after-tax income for all Americans; be dramatically simpler, to allow working people to file their taxes with a postcard or phone app; and shrink Washington by getting rid of the rat's nest of complex tax requirements, credits and loopholes. With these goals in mind, based on a structure suggested by President Reagan's tax adviser, Arthur Laffer, my Simple Flat Tax plan features the following: • For a family of four, no taxes whatsoever income. (income or payroll) on the first $36,000 of • Above that level, a 10% flat tax on all individual income from wages and investment. • No death tax, alternative minimum tax or ObamaCare taxes. • Elimination of the payroll tax and the corporate income tax, to be replaced by a 16% Business Flat Tax. This would tax companies' gross receipts from sales of goods and services, less purchases from other businesses, including capital investment. Simple, efficient, fair. • A Universal Savings Account, which would allow every American to save up to $25,000 annually on a tax-deferred basis for any purpose. Today, the U.S. taxes American producers that export goods, but it imposes no burden on imports. My business tax is border-adjusted, so exports are free of tax and imports pay the same business-flat-tax rate as U.S.-produced goods. By shifting to a territorial tax system that doesn't tax income earned overseas twice, my plan will reverse the incentive for U.S. companies to relocate overseas. Instead, businesses will be relocating to America. Giant corporations will lose their loopholes and instead pay the exact same Business Flat Tax as small businesses. And billionaire hedge-fund managers will no longer pay a lower rate than working men and women. To keep the tax burden fair, my plan includes a $10,000 standard deduction and a $4,000 personal exemption, which means a family of four pays nothing on their first $36,000 of income. It ends the payroll tax altogether (while maintaining full funding for Social Security and Medicare). It maintains the current child tax credit and expands and modernizes the earned-income tax credit, with greater reforms to prevent fraud and encourage marriage. The Simple Flat Tax also keeps the current deduction for all charitable giving, and includes a deduction for home-mortgage interest on the first $500,000 in principal. The 10% income tax covers ordinary income and investment of all varieties. The virtue of a single tax rate is that the rate doesn't rise as people work more and invest more. This means better incentives to increase output, and fewer distortions. Compliance OMS-American Oversight-000010 OMB-17-0309-A-000004 costs are minimized and capital flows to where it is most efficient-creating jobs- rather than where the tax burden is minimized. the most To get companies investing in worker productivity again, the Simple Flat Tax allows full and immediate expensing of business equipment, which will especially benefit heavy industry, mining, energy, farming, ranching and manufacturing. My plan also improves treatment of savings by creating Universal Savings Accounts. Any adult can save $25,000 a year with taxes deferred, like in an IRA, and savers can use those funds at any time, for any purpose. This will help create the next generation of capitalists by encouraging younger workers to save and invest. According to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, my tax plan would boost the size of the economy above current projections by 13.9% over a decade, add 4.9 million jobs and increase average wages by 12.2%. Every income group would get a double-digit wage increase. Along with other pro-growth policies- repealing Obama Care and Dodd-Frank, rolling back burdensome regulations, restoring sound money and restraining spending- the Simple Flat Tax will help the economy soar again. Reagan did it in 1981, and we can do it again. I intend to take it to the people: a simple flat tax, to benefit every American. Mr. Cruz is a U.S. senator from Texas and a candidatefor nomination. cownghl the Republican presidential ©,2017 Dow Jones &, Company, Inc All Rights Reserved nori-commercIal use only To order presentation-ready copies for dIstnbutIon to your colleagues, clients or customers vIsIt OMS-American Oversight-000011 OMB-17-0309-A-000005 The Simple Flat Tax Plan Summary It's time for the next American revolution; it's time to reignite growth in our economy. And the best way to do that is through fundamental tax reform. Cruz's Simple Flat Tax abolishes the IRS and replaces the byzantine tax code with a simple, fair tax. America's economic strength has been smothered by years of Obama' s broken promises, and stifling mandates and taxes, such as those under Obamacare. A great stagnation has led to a lost workforce: Millions of Americans have given up trying to find work and acquire skills to improve their well-being. America needs a bold stroke of pro-growth tax policy to reignite the mighty U.S. economic engine. The Simple Flat Tax is a critical first step to restoring the promise of growth and prosperity in America. Under the Sin1ple Flat Tax, the current seven rates of personal income tax will collapse into a single low rate of 10 percent. For a family of four, the first $36,000 will be tax-free. The Child Tax Credit will remain in place, and the Simple Flat Tax Plan expands and modernizes the Earned Income Tax Credit with greater antifraud and pro-maniage reforms. As a result, the Simple Flat Tax will ensure that low- and middle-income Americans have greater opportunities - not only through minimal taxes, but also through better, high-paying jobs that the Simple Flat Tax will generate. Under the plan, deductions for charitable contributions and mortgage interest payments are preserved. The IRS will cease to exist as we know it, there will be zero targeting of individuals based on their faith or political beliefs, and there will be no way for thousands of agents to manipulate the system. For businesses, the corporate income tax will be eliminated. It will be replaced by a simple Business Flat Tax at a single 16 percent rate. The current payroll tax system will be abolished, while maintaining full funding for Social Security and Medicare. The convoluted tax code will be replaced with new rules of the game - so simple, in fact, that individuals and families could file their taxes on a postcard or phone app. The Death Tax will be eliminated. The Alternative Minimum Tax will be eliminated. The tax on profits earned abroad will be eliminated. And of course, the Obamacare taxes will be eliminated. Also gone will be the unending loopholes in the current code, the stacks of depreciation schedules for businesses, and the multitiered rates on income and investments. Under the Simple Flat Tax, the Internet remains free from taxes. OMS-American Oversight-000012 OMB-17-0309-A-000006 The Simple Flat Tax Plan The results will be truly dramatic. According to the well-respected Tax Foundation, the Simple Flat Tax will deliver an economic boost of tremendous niagnitude. In the first decade, the Sin1ple Flat Tax will: Boost Gross Domestic Product by 13.9 percent above what is currently projected. Increase wages by 12.2 percent. Create 4,861,000 additional jobs. In the tax-cutting spirit of Presidents Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy, the Simple Flat Tax will lift Americans out of the current economic stagnation and into an historic boom. The Obama Economy America needs an economic revolution. From 2008 to the present, the economy has grown an average of 1.2 percent per year, with the weakest post-recession recovery in 75 years. The labor force participation rate has fallen to a 38-year low. Millions will never acquire the work skills that would empower them to climb the economic ladder and inspire their children to reach even higher. They are the permanent casualties of the ObamaBust, truly a lost workforce. The sluggish Obama economy is crushing opportunity for Americans who want to work. From exempting Congress from his signature healthcare law, to bailing out big banks, the Obama Administration has made the rich and well-connected more powerful, at the expense of ordinary Americans. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the misfortune befalling small businesses. Recent years have seen a dramatic decline in the rate of business formation. Business deaths now outpace business births. This is a national tragedy. But it's not too late to tum things around. We can once again capture the unparalleled ingenuity that is the American way. Current Tax Code Each year, Americans spend 6.1 billion hours on tax compliance. Billion. That's roughly the equivalent of every American taxpayer devoting 45 hours to filing their taxes every year. Or, alternatively, the equivalent of 59,580 Americans working every